Mirpur wicket does not favour Tigers, claims Papon 

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon claimed that the rank turners as well as the low and slow wickets that the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur boasts do not favour the home side. 

The Tigers missed out on a historic maiden Test series win over New Zealand as they succumbed to a four-wicket loss in the second and final match in Mirpur on Saturday. 

The wicket in Mirpur for the second Test was one from the range of tailor-made rank turners on which spinners can turn it square from Day 1. 

Expectedly, spinners made great use of the wicket, accounting for a total of 31 wickets of the 36 that fell in the match.  

Papon sidestepped the issue of whipping up such substandard wickets for a Test match as he blamed the issue on the players not knowing how to play on such surfaces that are a rare find in world cricket. 

"If you take a look at our history, you'll see that we have always struggled on such wickets. We struggle the most on this type of surface. But we have to learn; If others can do it then why not us?

"I don't know what kind of problems came out of this wicket. I saw no issues with it after I came here. We haven't been able to win a lot of matches in Mirpur. It's not that it favours us. It's not a favourable wicket for us. We do not play well on such wickets even when we go abroad. But we should know how to play on such wickets because it's like the wickets of our home ground. 

"The credit definitely goes to New Zealand, there is no doubt about it. We have played on good wickets. We played in Sylhet and won. But we will get wickets like these abroad," he told the reporter after the match on Saturday. 

Bangladesh have used such wickets to trap stronger oppositions in the past. The thought was to use a trial by spin that would expose the visiting team's weakness on rank turners and remain low and slow from the first day of play. 

This ploy has brought success as well as Bangladesh clinched memorable Test wins against England and Australia in Mirpur and won T20I series against New Zealand and Australia in the six years. 

Bangladesh's star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in an interview that playing on such pitches could destroy the career of batters.
But Papon emphasised giving the visitors the credit and blamed the result on the 'unpredictability' of the Mirpur wicket.

"We hoped for a win. The Mirpur wicket is unpredictable not just for the opponents but for us also. Luck did not favour us either. Batting in such weather was not easy. But you have to give them (New Zealand) the credit. They batted extraordinarily to put on that total from 55 for five," Papon said.

"Now, it looks like that the wicket is very good. The problem we have on this Mirpur wicket is uneven bounce but we saw nothing like that. The wicket got better after the sun came out (through the cloud covering), it was fine then," he added.