Unhappy Tamim and Mashrafe look for answers
One of the reasons why people watch T20 is due to its rampant nature. It is a quick way to get things done while also witnessing the batsmen smash the ball around the park like rockets launching in the sky.
However, last night’s slow track for the game between Rangpur Riders and Comilla Victorians at the Shere Bangla Stadium left almost every disappointed, including the captains of the two teams, respectively, Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza.
After being put into bat first, Rangpur Riders found it extremely difficult to play shots and collapsed to a puny score of 97 runs from 17.1 overs.
In what was expected to be an easy chase, Comilla Victorians found themselves stuttering at every step as they just barely managed to achieve the target after huffing and puffing through 19.3 overs.
After the match concluded, both the captains expressed their disgruntlement at the erratic nature of the pitch, Tamim in particular questioned the curator’s capability of producing good tracks.
Tamim Iqbal said: "There's always an excuse that this venue doesn't get any rest as it hosts a lot of matches, but this time we are playing after a gap of 10 days.
“Perhaps the curator can give the best answer," said Tamim.
"It is disappointing for the crowd as they witnessed one team scoring just 97 runs and the other struggling to complete the task," he added.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh ODI team’s captain, Mashrafe Mortaza, stated that the pitch was unacceptable and doesn’t heed to the requirement of T20 cricket.
"I think all of you understand cricket and, honestly speaking, playing T20 cricket on such a wicket is really tough," Mortaza said. "More so after returning from Chittagong. To get such kind of wicket definitely is not acceptable to us.”
He also added that while losing the toss is often disadvantageous, creating a pitch that makes it a nightmare for batters is just taking things too far.
"We know there is a disadvantage if you lose the toss and bowling team gets some advantage but not to such an extent - the good-length balls were going over the head, while also providing so much assistance to spin," he said.
"It seemed there was so much turn and spin in the wicket that slower bowlers were equally devastating with the white ball like they were against Australia in the Test series.
"I think it is high time we put our focus on the wicket and that too with utmost importance," he concluded.
While it is true that batsmen get a lot of advantage in modern times, preparing a pitch that makes it impossible to bat on is not something people like to see. The fact that Mashrafe, a bowler himself, didn’t find the pitch acceptable is a sign of worry and curator Gamini De Silva has some problems to look after now.
