Explained: What is Drop-in in Cricket and how it will be used for New York's T20 World Cup matches? How it is different from regular one?

The upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is one of the most unique editions since the inception of the tournament 17 years back in the year 2007. The prestigious cricket biennial will be played for the first time in the USA, which has one of the biggest sports markets. USA will co-host the 9th edition of the tournament, alongside West Indies.

The marquee international tournament is set to come up with some amazing innovations which the fans may have not seen in 8 editions that have been played so far.

Meanwhile, one of the prime attractions of the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup 2024 will be the drop-in pitches which will be used at the Nassau County Cricket International Stadium in New York.

Having said that, here we’ll have a look at the entire concept of ‘drop-in pitches’; what are these pitches, how are these pitches used and why the ‘drop-in pitches’ will be used in the T20 World Cup 2024?

What is a drop-in pitch?

Living up to its name, the drop-in pitches are made up and prepared apart and away from the main ground and the hosting venue of the game. Later, the pitch is dropped to the ground before the start of the match. Looking back on the history, WACA stadium in Perth was the first venue to host a game on a ‘drop-in pitch’.

Speaking of the ‘drop-in pitches’ to be used in T20 World Cup 2024, Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions will be providing their services in preparing and delivering the ‘drop-in pitches’ for the T20 World Cup 2024 matches in New York, USA.

Head groundsman of Adelaide Oval Damien Hough is also one of the members of the AOTS (Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions).

Where the ‘drop-in pitches’ will be used during T20 World Cup 2024?

The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium (Eisenhower Park) has a capacity of 34, 000. It is going to be the first-ever modular stadium in the history of cricket; it is likely to be ready by the last week of May. It is the same venue, where the drop-in pitches will be used during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Here’s what makers of ‘drop-in pitches’ have to say about this unique innovation

Adelaide Oval’s head groundsman Damien Hough spoke in detail about the exciting ‘drop-in pitches’ which are set to be used in the 9th edition of the T20 World Cup. He said that out of a total of 10 trays, 6 were prepared and built in Adelaide. Later, these trays were delivered to Florida; the rest of the surfaces will be getting prepared for the tournament in Florida.

“It’s a bit tricky, we built six of the 10 trays here in Adelaide. We made them modular. We’re proud of them. We’ve got a couple out of the back that will probably come out here [on Adelaide Oval next year],” said Hough to Channel 7.

“We put them in a shipping container and send them really wherever we want around the world. But they’ve gone over to Florida. And I’ve just come back from a month of work over there putting the trays together, putting the soil in, compacting them and putting the grass on. So we’re in the grow-in phase,”  he added later.