Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson lambasted the pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur after his team suffered a seven-wicket defeat in the first T20 International against Bangladesh on Sunday.

Pakistan was bowled out for 110 in 19.3 overs—its lowest T20I total against the opposition—before Bangladesh overhauled the target in 15.3 overs.

“It [the pitch] is not helpful for anybody. If people are trying to prepare for the Asia Cup or World Cup, that is not acceptable. The pitch is not an excuse for some of the decisions we made with the bat, but that pitch is not up to international standards for sure,” Hesson said when asked if the pitch was ideal for a T20I match during the post-match press conference.

The Kiwi coach also said that playing on such surfaces could make Bangladesh vulnerable on flatter surfaces outside home.

“It [the pitch] does not help them when they leave Bangladesh. Batting first in those situations is challenging. You aren’t quite sure whether 100 is good enough—or 130, 150. When you go away and play on flatter surfaces, you can get exposed. I don’t think it is good for anybody,” Hesson added.

The Pakistan coach also pointed out that the pitches in Bangladesh seemed to be sub-standard particularly during international matches.

“To develop cricketers, you want good cricket wickets. Even during the BPL (Bangladesh Premier League), there have been some really good cricket wickets here (Mirpur). It is just when, often when you play internationals, they are not quite up to that standard.”

Despite his criticism of the pitch, Hesson admitted that Pakistan failed to assess conditions and said that Fakhar Zaman’s fluent 44 made the surface look easier for batting than it actually was.

“We got off to a little bit of a flier, and that probably was more due to the fact that Fakhar Zaman played four or five shots. That probably gave a bit of a false indication as to how the surface was playing. We didn’t help ourselves through the middle. We chose some poor options. When the ball started to nip through, and bounce steeply, we didn’t assess that it was a bit more challenging and then took some high-risk shots. And then a couple of run outs through the middle certainly didn’t help,” Hesson explained.