England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Friday criticised the
pitch in Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium, saying he hopes teams in the IPL do not end
up with low scores due to wickets being ‘trash’.

Having his IPL 2021 journey stunted early due to a finger
injury against Punjab Kings, the all-rounder also highlighted the necessity of the
total score crossing the 160-mark in order to make matches ‘enjoyable’.

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“Hope the wickets don’t get worse as the IPL gets
deeper into the tournament.. 160/170 minimum not scraping to 130/140 cause the
wickets are trash,” Stokes said on Twitter.

His tweet came during a low-scoring match between
Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings. MI struggled to put up 131 for six in the first innings. PBKS skipper KL Rahul hit 60 and veteran West Indies batsman Gayle 43 as Punjab raced to 132 for one in 17.4 overs to beat Mumbai by nine wickets.

The track at Chepauk, till Friday, allowed only two teams
batting first in IPL 2021 to score totals of more than 170.

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The first instance recorded a 204 by Royal Challengers
Bangalore and the second saw a 187-run total by Kolkata Knight Riders.

The track will see its last match on Sunday, with Delhi
Capitals taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad, after which the bases will shift to New
Delhi and Ahmedabad.