'Kotla pitch not conducive for cricket'

New Delhi: After Harbhajan Singh criticised the 22-yard strip at the Services Ground in Palam, the strips used for the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla has also come under severe criticism from Railways coach Abhay Sharma who termed it as "not conducive for ODI cricket."

Railways lost their quarterfinal match against Delhi by seven wickets after their batsmen couldn't score more than 176 in seaming conditions after being put into bat.

"This pitch is not conducive for one day cricket. The fate of the match is dependent on toss. In the morning, the ball is doing a fair bit but the pitch eases out in the second session. It's there for all of you to see and decide. Even Robin (Uthappa) and Wasim (Jaffer) spoke about the pitch on Tuesday," Sharma told reporters here on Wednesday.

Railways lost their quarters match against Delhi by seven wickets after their batsmen couldn\'t score more than 176.

Interestingly, Delhi batsman Shikhar Dhawan who scored a half century also felt that "toss is a factor in these conditions."

The Railways coach has reasons to feel annoyed as lot of pitches of late haven't been up to the mark but Karnail Singh Stadium is the only one banned by tournament committee.

"Even during North Zone T20s, scores of 80 weren't being chased on a particular ground," he stated.

Asked whether he would speak to the management on filing a complaint, Sharma was non-committal but gave an interesting reply.

"That's not in my jurisdiction. But if I am asked to give my feedback about the pitch, I would say what I have to," he concluded.

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