Dhoni, Waqar, Malinga unhappy with pitches in Asia Cup
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DHAKA: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sri Lankan skipper Lasith Malinga and Pakistan’s head coach Waqar Younis feel that green top pitches in Bangladesh are hardly ideal preparation for the upcoming World T20 since most of the batsmen are struggling in the on-going Asia Cup.
The round-robin clashes in the Asia Cup competition here have been played on a surface that has surprisingly assisted pace bowlers more. The green tops have made life difficult for the batsmen with the bowlers calling the shots. Barring India’s Rohit Sharma, who hit a stellar 83 against Bangladesh, none of his team-mates have even crossed 50 in the tournament so far. While Virat Kohli came up with a fighting 49 against Pakistan, others in the batting line-up have found the going tough.
The big question that arises is that can this be termed an ideal preparation for the participating teams ahead of World T20 to be played in India? Skipper Dhoni doesn’t seem to think so.
“Against Bangladesh we struggled to reach 166 in the first match, and in fact would have got to only 140 had Rohit and Hardik Pandya not batted brilliantly,” said Dhoni.
“Other than that there have been low-scoring games which I feel is not good. We thought it would be good practice ahead of the World T20, but it’s not in terms of hitting.”
“The reason people love this format is because of the sixes and fours, so, you don’t want teams scoring 80s and 100s,” Dhoni pointed out.
Pakistan’s head coach Waqar Younis concurred with Dhoni’s views that the pitches haven’t been the best advertisement for T20 cricket.
“The wickets have been difficult for the batsmen here. They are not ideal for strokeplay which is the main attraction in T20 games,” said Waqar. “However, as international sides you need to adapt to different conditions. Unfortunately, our batsmen couldn’t do so against India, but we will have to pull ourselves up.”
Sri Lankan skipper Lasith Malinga felt some help for the batsmen would do the teams a world of good in Asia Cup.”There should be a good contest between bat and ball. At the moment, that’s not what is happening,” he said.
“Fans come to the stadium to watch exhilarating batsmanship in this format, but instead they have seen the top players struggling and not able to find their feet which is a bit disappointing,” said Malinga.
Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2016
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Comments (49) Closed
Mar 01, 2016 03:02pm
When batsmen struggle in a T-20 match, then that game is literally dead...
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Mar 01, 2016 03:10pm
Pitches has been pathetic and Bangladesh r playin with pitches. They cut off the grass for their match against SL and they will do it again against PAK. Why excessive grass on pitch is considered gud, whereas excessive spinning track considered bad.
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Mar 01, 2016 03:35pm
@Mohit agreed but i hope u would have shared the same view if only pakistan skipper has made these judgement.. never the less i think what ever the pitch is professional players are the one how should adopt all conditions.
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Mar 01, 2016 03:40pm
An skilled batter can cope with any condition. Look at Bangladesh's Sabbir. He played tremendously against India and Sri Lanka. Malinga has reason to complain about pitch. Because his team was defeated by Bangladesh. Indian batsmen also failed to score except Rohita and Virat. That is why Dhoni complained.The Indians also always complain about green pitch as they neither can play nor bowl well in grassy wicket. But why Waqar is complaining. He has world-class bowlers like Amir, Wahab, Irfan and Sami. His batters also can bat in such condition. He should have appreciated this pitch. He himself was a legendary bowler. I don't understand why he is reacting. It's indeed absurd in his respect.
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Mar 01, 2016 03:50pm
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ Pakistan batters can bat? Yeah 83 all out! And Indians cant bat on green pitches? The reached the target with 5 overs to spare! But as the saying goes- you are entitled to your opinion!
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Mar 01, 2016 04:00pm
Our ultra-talented batsmen would fail even if they are batting on batting wickets. They don't have any techniques whatsoever.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:03pm
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ Be real and honest. I hear if the batsman is skilled he can play in any pitch. Well I disagree. Some pitches you cannot bat. This is T20. Pure entertainment. You cannot waste 100 deliveries to show ur skills. You guys need to open ur eyes.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:04pm
I can understand Dhoni saying this, since he is a batsman - wicketkeeper
Such stuff coming from Waqar and Malinga is a bit of a bother
The game is increasingly becoming batsman centric..... Such low scoring games can be more entertaining and challenging then a 200+ stuff we saw in Australia
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Mar 01, 2016 04:08pm
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ Be real and honest. I hear if the batsman is skilled he can play in any pitch. Well I disagree. Some pitches you cannot bat. This is T20. Pure entertainment. You cannot waste 100 deliveries to show ur skills. You guys need to open ur eyes.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:12pm
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ Pakistani batsman can bat on such conditions? Sums up your cricket knowledge.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:14pm
Pitches in Bangladesh? I guess all the matches are being played on the same stadium... How many pitches a stadium can have? 1 or max 2.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:14pm
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ 'The Indians can neither play nor bowl on grassy pitches', wake up son, they just beat your mediocre side batting first on a green top and your wonder boy Mustafizur was whacked for 40 runs without a single wicket. Keep playing at home cause you are a minnow outside.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:42pm
@Mohit In the name of flat tracks , sub continent curators prepare sub standard pitches. There is no harm in a flat track as long as it does not deteriorate creating uneven bounce , soil getting loose and breaking (eg nagpur pitch in Ind vs SA test match). This is when it becomes dangerous to the batsmen also. Also note that preparing excessive spin tracks would be counter productive. Who can forget the 1992 world cup SF when jayasuriya turned the ball like shane warne at Eden Gardens.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:46pm
Why is Waqar complaining? Where is the fast bowler in him gone?
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Mar 01, 2016 04:46pm
@Mamun... My dear, open your eyes. Pak bowlers are world class!!! then why they are beaten regularly. Give some time to prove their talent and tell. Everybody saying mohd amir bowled really well against India. I agreed. but the end result is very important. Finally India won.
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Mar 01, 2016 04:50pm
Cricket is becoming batsmen game rather than gentlemen game. Nowadays everybody starts bashing the pitch if it suits fast bowler. Everybody want dead pitches.
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Mar 01, 2016 05:36pm
Waqar sahab the batting already not supporting you so let the bowlers do some work and the green shirt may chase a score.
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Mar 01, 2016 05:43pm
I feel very sad to hear this from Fast bowlers of the caliber of Waqar and Malinga though we can expect it from Dhoni. International batsmen are meant to play on any ground, otherwise you and me also can easily score runs. I don't find anything wrong with the pitches in Bangla Desh. In fact I strongly recommend more such pitches in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Actually I was not at all happy with the docile pitches in Australia, very sorry state of affairs in favour of low quality or no quality batsmen.
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Mar 01, 2016 05:43pm
@SLIDER FYI 1992 WC was held in Australia and NZ.
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Mar 01, 2016 05:49pm
No complains, please,
I can understand Dohni complaining, but others should produce good results.
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Mar 01, 2016 06:16pm
Lets put it this way. It doesnt matter for our batsmen if the pitch is green or not -- cause they are unable to score anyways. However green tops atleast give our bowlers an edge. So ! We actually should be thankfull.
And as for me , i enjoy 6s and 4s but i also enjoy good bowling spells. And i enjoyed thouroughly the pakistani bowling.
Pitches like these shows us the real batting talents. Loved Kohli against us -- now thats talent --- he was the difference between two teams. From now on -- i am a Kohli fan.
He bats to win. Not for hitting boundaries.
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Mar 01, 2016 06:37pm
A dry pitch devoid of grass awaits the game between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
BD prepared a green top against India after seeing India lose to SL in Pune but
their batsmen lacked skills to play Nehra, Bumrah what to talk of Pakistani
fast bowlers. So Pakistani batsmen have to perform if theywant to advance to
the finals.
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Mar 01, 2016 06:39pm
What a lame excuse !
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Mar 01, 2016 06:59pm
stop complaining and adopt to the conditions. pak should go with 5 fast bolwers+ afridi.
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Mar 01, 2016 07:07pm
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ I don't understand the scorn in your tone: Indians can't play on grassy pitches.As if you Bangladeshis can.. For India you yourself lifted two batsmen Rohit and Kohli while for Bangladesh there is only Rahman (and you show off as if he is some Tendulkar,Ponting,Dravid or Kallis).. What has Bangladesh actually achieved.. Just a few one day series win in their own backyard !! What have you won outside ??? When you win a few matches outsideagainst then start gloating.. Otherwise you sound and look foolish !!
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Mar 01, 2016 07:15pm
@SLIDER How is Nagpur even relevant to this discussion which is about T-20 pitches and that too its impact of T-2o W prep.. Do you even understand what your talking.. Produce a fat pitch which does't detoriate in tests??/WHat will you achieve 600 + totals ? Atleast Nagpur turned from ball 1 thus makin toss not so critical ..I am sure if the upcoming T-20 WC was in Engand or NewZealand neither Dhoni nor Waqar nor Malinga would have been complaining !!
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Mar 01, 2016 08:19pm
Unnecessary excuses. Please just play. This is the reason Asian teams can't beat Australia in Australia, NZ in NZ and GB in GB.
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Mar 01, 2016 09:01pm
Why it is only interesting when batsman hits and not when bowler take wickets?
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Mar 01, 2016 10:37pm
I think pitches have been good. Its good to see battle between Bat and Ball. These pitches have shown that batsman are not capable of playing on seaming pitches. Only GOOD batsman can play which Pakistan doesn't have :-( Each match has shown that if you stay at wicket for some time, you will be able to hit. If these pitches are not good for batsmen, then are dead pitches good for struggling bowlers.
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Mar 01, 2016 10:58pm
I am finding matches interesting and happy with pitches. What is wrong if pitches supporting fast bowlers. Though I do understand why players are saying that this is not ideal preparation for World Cup as W20 pitches will be high scoring and these pitches are bowler friendly.
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Mar 01, 2016 11:52pm
I think people needs to understand the context here. Dhoni was asked a question whether this tournament will help in preparing for World T20. He was replying to the question. The meaning of his answer was that these are not ideal pitches for preparation of World T20 because T20 cricket is a format where people come to watch their favorite batsmen batting and scoring runs. Here even top batsmen in every team are struggling to score. Ball is swinging and bouncing. There is lot of lateral movement. Once dew falls, ball is skidding on pitch. People come to watch the game but neither the games are becoming entertaining nor batsmen are scoring freely. Bowlers are not having a great time either because they are constantly trying to control the movement of the ball and have to deal with the dew factor. There is nothing wrong in what Dhoni said. Bangladesh needs to stop altering pitches. They are giving green pitches to India and making flat ones for themselves.
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Mar 02, 2016 12:20am
@Sachin the stadium has about 7 pitches and these pitches are being rotated. Today, IND vs SRI being the 7th match, all of the matches played till today could theoretically be played in different pitches. Not sure whether there were any repetitions or not.
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Mar 02, 2016 12:25am
Pitches are very good as this is the real test of a batsman. Hitting sixes and fours on un-friendly bowler pitches does not demonstrate the true caliber of a batsman.
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Mar 02, 2016 12:35am
I would say pitches are perfect which ensured a balance between bat and ball. This is good for cricket. We need more quality games that are balanced in terms of ball and bat, not the quantity in terms of runs where bowlers doesn't get any chance to show their skills. At least one team has scored more than 120 runs in all the matches that have been played till today except the IND vs PAK match (in which IND chases PAK's 83 runs in 15.3 overs and could possibly score more than 120 runs as well had they batted their full quota). I do not get why there is such complaints.
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Mar 02, 2016 12:35am
I would say pitches are perfect which ensured a balance between bat and ball. This is good for cricket. We need more quality games that are balanced in terms of ball and bat, not the quantity in terms of runs where bowlers doesn't get any chance to show their skills. At least one team has scored more than 120 runs in all the matches that have been played till today except the IND vs PAK match (in which IND chases PAK's 83 runs in 15.3 overs and could possibly score more than 120 runs as well had they batted their full quota). I do not get why there is such complaints.
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Mar 02, 2016 01:01am
No need to complain about pitch which is favorable to fast bowlers. Just play cricket on what ever type of pitch.
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Mar 02, 2016 03:45am
Bangladesh is a below par cricket nation and to hold such events there is always going to be below standard.
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Mar 02, 2016 05:27am
I think it is time the ICC worked out an international pitch specification and took control of pitch preparation just as they did with umpiring. I am of the view that since pitches are prepared to give undue advantage to the home side, this act can be attributed to being at par with ball tampering.
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Mar 02, 2016 06:30am
Bowlers dominating might be good for Tests. For T20, it makes the game boring.
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Mar 02, 2016 08:40am
hahahhahhaahahahhhhhhahahahah
why, have bowlers no right to dominate. This is poor form all three though they should have taken the challenge happily and watched who is worth to be considered as a sheer talent.
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Mar 02, 2016 09:03am
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ despite all these -ve about india's game ,india proved to be way stronger than every other team even your bangladesh . your top ranked shabbir is not even close to ashwin in batting skill. so stop blabbing around and do something at field.
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Mar 02, 2016 09:07am
@SLIDER Do you even know that 1992 cricket world cup was played in Australia & New Zealand??? Sums up your cricketing knowledge. Well I liked the way the bowlers are dominating the batsmen after a long time.
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Mar 02, 2016 09:23am
No need to be sad about pitched what about dead flat pitches that favour Batsmen?
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Mar 02, 2016 09:25am
@Mahen Yeah they reached the paltry target in 16th over with their batting line all gone to dugout!
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Mar 02, 2016 10:44am
@Mamun বাংলাদেশ
Either you don't know what T20 is all about, or you want to blindly support Bangladesh board for these pitches.. In either case, you are not right..
- @Mamun বাংলাদেশ
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Mar 02, 2016 11:07am
I m very happy with Asia cup pitch, I was fedup of too many sixes n big scores, pitch must assist both batsman m bowler. We ate seeing real Calibre and temprament of batsman in this series
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Mar 02, 2016 11:24am
funny seeing waqar and malinga complain, them being bowlers
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Mar 02, 2016 02:50pm
@Ron If you want pure entertainment in T-20, please watch IPL. But here in Dhaka, Asia Cup is being held; a serious cricket tournament - full of tension, thrill and trembling directly linked to national prestige and pride. And I don't think it's good for cricket to give made-easy pitch to the batsmen (by making it flat) so that they can hit fours and sixes to please the spectators and sponsors. Pitch should be neutral so that all players, batsmen and bowlers - can equally perform.
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Mar 03, 2016 09:38pm
Bhuvneshwar Kumar must be played in seaming pitches like bangladesh..jadeja bowls well but in Bangladesh it is more suitable for seamers.. Also rahane and shikar both should play.
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