The apex body of Bangladesh Cricket, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are undergoing steps to completely change the soil of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. There have been growing calls for a sporting pitch and the operations team of BCB are planning to undergo a major overhaul.
Bangladesh recently outclassed Pakistan 2-1 at home and several cricket pundits rated the Mirpur pitch as unfit to play international cricket. This was primarily because there was low bounce and it was a slow wicket, hence the batters couldn’t score runs. Bangladesh won the first 2 T20Is and eventually lost the 3rd T20I, where their batters succumbed to a slightly better surface.
The cricket operations head of BCB, Nazmul Abedin, mentioned that there was no request from the home board to make such kind of a pitch. He admitted that the team who were making the pitch are responsible and not the BCB officials.
“Overall, the Mirpur wicket is not satisfactory – we all accept that. We’ll have to work on this going forward. Perhaps the entire soil base will have to be removed. Or, the process through which the pitch is prepared will have to be changed. I hope that some changes will come in this area in the near future, and that we’ll see a better wicket in Mirpur,” Abdein said to CricBuzz.
“If there had been grass on the wicket, then the ball’s colour might not have been damaged as much. Since there is no natural grass, when the ball comes into friction with the soil, it absorbs the colour of that soil, and eventually, a time comes when the ball appears less white and takes on a darker shade. That naturally affects visibility. So that is definitely a factor. Our board president made a correct observation or comment (in this regard),” he added.
Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka and Pakistan in T20Is
Litton Das and co. are riding a high wave as they have beaten Sri Lanka and Pakistan, 2-1 in the T20I series respectively. While the win against Sri Lanka was an away win, Bangladesh defeated Pakistan at home.
Bangladesh’s next assignment is the Asia Cup 2025, which is slated to begin from 9th September 2025.
