Apex Governing Council rates Mirpur pitch for NZ vs BAN match as ‘Unsatisfactory’

New Zealand won the second Test of the two-match test series against Bangladesh by four wickets and managed to level the series by 1-1. Bangladesh won the first Test of the series in Sylhet by 150 runs, but New Zealand made a comeback in the 2nd match in Dhaka in a low-scoring encounter and won the game by chasing a low total of 137 runs with four wickets left.

Bangladesh has been notorious for preparing low and slow wickets to assist their spinners in their home matches. Though, home teams influencing pitches in their home matches is not a new thing in international cricket Bangladesh has been known for preparing sub-standard pitches for quite some time now.

It has become a trend and team touring Bangladesh comes mentally prepared with what kind of pitches they will be facing in Bangladesh. After the match, the Apex Cricket Council also took cognizance of the whole matter and the pitch was rated as ‘Unsatisfactory’ under the Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.

Subsequently, Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium at Dhaka received 1 demit point for producing a substandard pitch that was overly tilted towards one facet of the game as out of the 36 wickets that fell in the match, 30 had gone to the spinners.

The bounce was inconsistent: Apex Governing Council’s match referee

Apex Governing Council’s match referee in his match report suggested that the outfield was very good and held up well with the rain but the wicket was slow and sluggish with inconsistent bounce.

His his match report Boon stated, “The outfield was very good and held up extremely well with the rain. However, it appeared that the pitch may have been under-prepared, as it was not hard and was covered in grass clippings on day one.

"From the first session onwards, throughout the remainder of the match, the bounce was inconsistent with numerous balls bursting the surface. Deliveries from spin bowlers often went over the batter's shoulder when playing forward and then occasionally stayed very low."

The demerit points will stay effective for a continuous period of five years, and any venue that accrues six or more demerit points within this duration will face a suspension, prohibiting it from hosting international cricket for 12 months.