Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh is only a match old and the Mirpur pitch has already taken centre stage. The visitors were rolled for 110 in 19.3 overs, Bangladesh chased it down with ease, and Mike Hesson did not mince words.
“I think (the pitch) is not ideal for anybody,” the Pakistan head coach 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.”
That last line echoed around the Shere Bangla National Stadium. Fakhar Zaman had threatened briefly, cracking 44 off 29 balls, yet wickets kept tumbling once the ball began to bite and bounce. By the eighth over Pakistan were 46 for 5; three run-outs only deepened the mess.
“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 admitted later. “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, opening for Bangladesh, heard the criticism and shrugged. From his perspective, the pitch was fine. He finished unbeaten on 37 and guided Bangladesh home with 27 balls to spare.
“We didn’t feel (it was a bad pitch) as we chased it down in less than 16 overs,” Emon 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.”
Emon’s stance is familiar in these parts: visiting teams complain, home players adapt. Yet Hesson pushed back, arguing that surfaces like this do nobody any favours in the long run, not even Bangladesh’s own batters.
“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 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.”
One-nil down, Pakistan have little time to dwell. Another low, sticky wicket could greet them tomorrow. The bigger question, though, lingers: does a home advantage justified by difficult pitches outweigh the need for surfaces that encourage skills transferable abroad? Hesson is clear where he stands; Bangladesh, at least for now, are happy with the status quo.
