World Cup 2023: Lucknow outfield under scrutiny after Liam Livingstone gets injured while fielding

The outfield of the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow has come under scanner after England’s Liam Livingstone got injured while taking the catch of Rohit Sharma to dismiss the India skipper in their 2023 World Cup match on Sunday.

World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table

In the 38th over of India’s innings, Rohit miscued a shot towards the deep and holed it out to Liam Livingstone at deep midwicket. Although it seemed like a safe catch at first from Livingstone, who had covered most of the ground,  he landed pretty badly and hurt his knee in the process.

Livingstone was then attended by the team physio, soon after which, he was good to go once again.

Netizens were quick to notice the poor situation of the Lucknow outfield.

Lucknow outfield 🤝 Daramshala outfield 👀#ENGvsIND #INDvsENG #CricketTwitter #CricketWorldCup2023 #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/Dc8QglIqH7

— Shahzaib (@shahzaibashfa11) October 29, 2023

Lucknow's outfield is disaster for the players.#ENGvsIND #INDvsENG #CWC2023 pic.twitter.com/iwohZLHJMq

— Manoj Tiwari (@ManojTiwariIND) October 29, 2023

Livingstone injured himself due to poor outfield in Lucknow while taking catch of Indian Skipper.
Great arrangements by the richest cboard in the world.
1st Dharamsala now Locknow.
Players getting injured in the outfield.#INDvsENG #INDvENG #ViratKohli #RohitSharma #CWC2023 pic.twitter.com/O6e7aBZR7h

— Wickets and Sixes (@wicketsandsixes) October 29, 2023

This is not the first time the outfield of a ground has come under scrutiny during the World Cup. England captain Jos Buttler was unhappy with the outfield at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala ahead of their game against Bangladesh in early October, which the defending champions went onto win.

“It’s poor in my own opinion. I think any time you’re sort of talking about being careful diving or sort of being careful when you’re fielding, it sort of goes against everything you want to be as a team,” Buttler had said.

On Sunday, India maintained their 100 per cent win record in the World Cup with a 100-run mauling of England. Rohit Sharma (87) and Suryakumar Yadav (49) helped India put up a respectable total of 229/9, and in reply, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah shared seven wickets between them to see England off for 129.

The Men in Blue next face Sri Lanka in Mumbai on 2 November.