Dhoni: Mirpur pitch not good for World T20 prep
India captain MS Dhoni believes the pitches in the ongoing Asia Cup in Bangladesh are not helping the sides prepare for the upcoming World T20, starting in March.
All the games in the Asia Cup have been played in Mirpur and in the four matches played so far the highest team score has been 166, by India against Bangladesh in the opening game of the tournament proper.
On Saturday, Pakistan were shot out for just 83 on a pitch that gave plenty of assistance to the seam bowlers with India struggling to chase down the target, eventually winning by five wickets.
Dhoni said after the game: "We scored 166 in one match but frankly we were going to score 140. Other than that there have been low-scoring games which I feel is not that good.
"We thought it would be good practice ahead of the World T20, so it's not a good practice in terms of hitting but yes in terms of respecting the conditions.
"The reason why people love T20 is the sixes and fours. At the same time you don't want [teams scoring] 80s and 100s. Low scoring should be 130-140 and high-scoring can be 200 or 240.
"In a way, it's good for us because we are a side that plays aggressive cricket. What it does, it pushes us to respect the conditions. In the coming games the openers won't go with a set mindset."
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