‘The wicket changed all of a sudden’: Miraz blames pitch for batting collapse

Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz claimed that the pitch used for the first ODI of the three-match against Afghanistan on Wednesday changed abruptly to cause a thumping collapse in the Tigers' batting effort, leading to a 92-run loss at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.  

The Tigers experienced a massive batting meltdown in which they lost seven wickets in 24 balls while adding 11 runs in pursuit of a modest 235-run total. The visitors were 132-4 midway into the 31st over and four overs later, they were all out for 143. 

Miraz, who scored a 51-ball 28 after coming into bat at four in the match, admitted that set batters should have steered the Tigers across the finish line but credited their downfall to how the wicket changed its behaviour.  

"When Shanto and I were batting, the wicket seemed easy to bat on but after the 20th over when the ball became soft, it started to turn a lot all of a sudden," Miraz told reporters on Friday.

"You could see that the two of us were struggling in the middle despite being set. But yes, one of us should have finished it considering the fact that we were set. I kept telling Shanto that since we were struggling on this wicket, the batters after us would find it way more difficult.

"All of a sudden, there was so much slow turn off the wicket and [the ball] kept coming on straight. You could not predict which ball will turn and which will come on straight. It just happened all of a sudden. At that time, I made a mistake, Shanto did too. We have discussed it. The set batters should have finished things on a wicket like this."