Mike Hesson attacked after calling Bangladesh pitch ‘unacceptable’ following Pakistan's loss

Pakistan National Cricket Team head coach Mike Hesson has come up with a brutal pitch criticism after his team's loss in the T20I series opener against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team.

Mike Hesson said that the surface at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur for the first T20I of the three-match series was unacceptable and didn't meet international cricket standards.

Also Read: BCCI announces updated India squad for England Tests after Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh get injured

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

Pakistan humiliated in T20I series opener against Bangladesh

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl first in the match. The bowlers did a fantastic job and picked up wickets at regular intervals to reduce Pakistan to 46/5.

Fakhar Zaman tried his best to drag the team out of trouble, but he got run out after a disastrous mix-up with Khushdil Shah for 44 runs. From thereon, Pakistan kept losing wickets and got bowled out for 110 in 19.3 overs.

Chasing the target, Bangladesh batters played brilliantly and completed the run-chase in 15.3 overs, thanks to Parvez Hossain Emom (56*) and Towhid Hridoy (36), to bag a 7-wicket win.

After the game, the Mirpur pitch has come under the scanner as angry Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson labelled it as an unacceptable track for international cricket. He 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 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."

"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."

You need good cricket wickets to develop cricketers - Mike Hesson

Continuing his brutal criticism of the Mirpur pitch, Mike Hesson said that good pitches are needed to develop cricketers, and Bangladesh will suffer in the matches away from home if they continue to produce such 'poor' tracks.

"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," Mike Hesson said.

"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," Mike Hesson added.

We adjusted better than them - Parvez Hossain Emon attacks Mike Hesson

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon has launched a scathing attack on Mike Hesson, saying that the pitch was not bad and the hosts' easy chase of the target was proof of it. He 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 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."