After the first game of the T20I series between Bangladesh and Pakistan, the pitch has come under the scanner as was widely expected. Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson did admit that his batters hadn’t read the pitch correctly. But he did not hesitate to brand the surface as “unacceptable” for international cricket, after Pakistan were skittled out for 110.
To hear from such a reputed coach about the pitch conditions baffled many. Yes, it was challenging, but to say that Pakistan lost due to the pitch primarily seems like an excuse and throwing the pitch under the bus. It was not a belter, but it felt like a 150 kind of a surface.
Mike Hesson harshly criticises the pitch.Â
Speaking to reporters, Mike Hesson said, “I think the pitch is not ideal for anybody. Teams are trying to prepare for the Asia Cup or the T20 World Cup. It is still no excuse for some of the decisions we made with the bat. But this pitch is not up to international standards.”
Pakistan had slipped to 46/5 by the 8th over, with most of their batters throwing their wickets away by playing the big shots and not applying themselves out there. The Men in Green’s cause wasn’t helped either by three run outs that took place. This made sure that Pakistan were bowled out for 110 in 19.3 overs failing to bat the last 3 balls.
Hesson added, ” We got off to a little bit of a flyer. Fakhar Zaman played four or five shots. It gave us a false indication about how the surface was playing. We didn’t help ourselves through the middle. We chose some poor options. When the ball started to nip through, and bounced steeply, we probably didn’t assess that it was a bit more challenging to play high-risk shots. Couple of run-outs also didn’t help,”
Parvez Hossain Emon disagrees with Hesson’s assessment.Â
On the contrary, Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon disagreed with Hesson’s assessment of the pitch. Emon felt that Bangladesh winning comfortably by 7 wickets with 27 balls to spare was an indication that the surface wasn’t all that bad.
Speaking to reporters, Emon said, “We didn’t feel it was a bad pitch as we chased it down in less than 16 overs. We could have scored 150-160 runs if we batted the full 20 overs. It maybe so that they couldn’t adjust to the pitch. We adjusted better than them. The Dhaka pitch usually benefits the bowlers. We tried to asses the wicket quickly. It was our first plan,”
Mike Hesson believes such pitches don’t help Bangladesh either
Mike Hesson kept on going though, reiterating that such pitches wouldn’t help even Bangladesh prepare for sterner Tests away from home. He said, “You need good cricket wickets to develop cricketers. There was some good wickets during the BPL, to be fair. It is not up to the standard when international cricket is being played,”
He continued, “I don’t think it helps them when they leave Bangladesh. But I think also batting first in these situations is challenging. When you aren’t quite sure whether 100 or 130 or 150 is good enough. I don’t think (the pitch) is good for anybody. It still doesn’t take away the fact that you have to perform better in any surface. We will look at it as a team,”
What Lies Ahead
Mike Hesson and Pakistan must forget about the pitch and see how they can bounce back in this do-or-die clash coming up against Bangladesh on 22nd July at Mirpur, Dhaka. The pitch will be the centre of attention once again, but somehow the visitors need to forget what happened in the first game and focus on areas of improvement ahead of the second game.
Will the Bangla Tigers make it 2-0 and seal the series on Tuesday night or will Pakistan fight back and force a decider putting the pitch controversy aside. Only time will tell as this short 3-match series heats up now.
Also Read: BAN vs PAK : Bangladesh’s Crushing Win Over Pakistan In 1st T20I Match Breaks Records