Pakistan coach Mike Hesson slams Shere Bangla National Stadium's pitch after team's loss

Pakistan coach Mike Hesson slams Shere Bangla National Stadium's pitch after team's loss Pakistan were dismissed for 110 with Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman sharing five wickets. This match marked the first occasion of Pakistan getting bowled by Bangladesh in a T20I. Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Mike Hesson has slammed the pitch on offer in Dhaka.

New Delhi:

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson slammed the pitch on offer for the first T20I between Bangladesh and Pakistan at the Shere Bangla National Stadium after his team went down in the opener on Sunday, July 20.

Pakistan were shot out for 110 as they suffered their first-ever all-out against Bangladesh in a T20I match. They were reeling at 46/5 with their batters going for big shots. They recovered briefly with Fakhar Zaman making 44 from 34 balls; however, the visitors were dismissed for 110 with Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman sharing five wickets, while Pakistan also lost three by run outs.

Speaking after the match, Hesson termed the Dhaka pitch as 'unacceptable despite admitting his batters' mistakes. "I think (the pitch) is not ideal for anybody," Hesson said. "Teams are trying to prepare for the Asia Cup or the (T20) World Cup. It is not acceptable. It is still no excuse for some of the decisions we made with the bat. But this pitch is not up to international standards."

Fakhar took Pakistan to a fine start in the first over with nine from it; however, they then lost their way and could not get hold of the surface. "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," Hesson said. "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."

On the contrary, Parvez Hossain Emon disagreed with the Pakistan coach, saying, "We didn't feel (it was a bad pitch) as we chased it down in less than 16 overs," he said. "We could have scored 150-160 runs if we batted the full 20 overs. It may be so that they couldn't adjust to the pitch. We adjusted better than them. The Dhaka pitch usually benefits the bowlers. We tried to assess the wicket quickly. It was our first plan."

Meanwhile, Hesson stated that such wickets won't help in developing cricketers and feels that the pitch wasn't good for anybody. "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.

"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."

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