Pakistan, Bangladesh in split opinions as 'pitch drama' errupts after 1st T20I

New Delhi [India], July 21 (ANI): Pakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson labelled Shere Bangla National Stadium's pitch as "unacceptable" for international cricket while accepting that his batters failed to read the surface correctly in the first T20I against Bangladesh; however, the hosts had a different perspective.
Just after the first T20I of the three-match series, the Shere Bangla National Stadium is on the radar. After being put to bat, Pakistan limped to a paltry 110 in 19.3 overs, which Bangladesh effortlessly gunned down in 15.3 overs to go 1-0 up in the series with a 7-wicket win.
Pakistan slipped to 46/5 by the eighth over as their batters misfired and lost their wickets while attempting big strokes. The three run-outs further increased Pakistan's woes, forcing them to be bowled out for 110. After the contest, Hesson lambasted the strip and claimed the pitch is not up to "international standards".
"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," Hesson said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"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," Hesson added.
Despite Hesson's claims, Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon disagreed with Pakistan head coach's assessment of the pitch. Emon said that Bangladesh's seven-wicket win, achieved with 27 balls to spare, served as an indication that the surface wasn't terrible.
"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," Emon said.
In his scathing tirade, Hesson claimed that such strips wouldn't even help Bangladesh in their preparations for the stern assignments and tests that await them.
"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," he added. (ANI)