Dhaka, July 20 (IANS) Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson blamed his batters for misreading the pitch but also opined that the pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in the crushing seven-wicket defeat in the opening T20I of the three-match series on Sunday.

After being asked to bat first, Pakistan were dismissed for 110 in the final over of their innings. Fakhar Zaman top-scored with a fluent 44, while Mohammad Abbas Afridi (22) and Khushdil Shah (17) were the only others to reach double figures.

In response, Bangladesh chased down the modest target in 15.3 overs, finishing at 111/3. Opener Parvez Hossain Emon starred with an unbeaten 56, anchoring the innings with confidence and power.

The reason for Hesson’s assessment of the pitch for the first T20I is the fact that Pakistan were reduced to 46 for 5 by the eighth over, with most of their batters falling while going for big shots. They also did not help matters by getting involved in three run-outs and were eventually all out for 114.

“I think (the pitch) is not ideal for anybody,” Hesson said in the post-match press conference. “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,” the Pakistan head coach said.

“We didn’t help ourselves through the middle. We chose some poor options. When the ball started to nip through and bounce steeply, we probably didn’t assess that it was a bit more challenging to play high-risk shots. A couple of run-outs also didn’t help,” Hesson added.

Bangladesh captain Litton Das dismissed the complaints about the pitch and said they have played a lot of cricket on it and used the knowledge to their advantage.

“We definitely know about the wicket because we played lots of cricket in Mirpur. It’s not an easy wicket to bat on, but the way we batted, it looks good. In the second innings, the ball came nicely because of the dew, probably. We bowl really well. We take early wickets. And that’s the key point,” said Litton Das.

Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon, who was adjudged Player of the Match, also did not agree that it was a poor pitch.

“We didn’t feel (it was a bad pitch) as we chased it down in less than 16 overs,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “We could have scored 150-160 runs if we batted the full 20 overs. It may be that they couldn’t adjust to the pitch. We adjusted better than they did. The Dhaka pitch usually benefits the bowlers. We tried to assess the wicket quickly. It was our first plan.”

Emon also said: “Obviously happy because of our team’s win. So that’s why I’m happy. [Pressure to rebuild the innings] Not like that; we just stay in the positive and look for singles. When I hit sixes, I enjoyed it,” he said.

Bangladesh will be hoping to seal the three-match series when they meet Pakistan in the same venue on Tuesday (July 22).

–IANS

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