Furious Shahid Afridi slams Bangladesh over poor pitches, asks if they want to make progress

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was left furious as Pakistan and Bangladesh produced another low-scoring thriller in the third T20I of the three-match series between the two sides in Dhaka on Monday (November 22). Afridi slammed Bangladesh over the poor quality of the pitches in the country and advised them to do some soul searching.

The track at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka remained sluggish throughout the three-match series with batters facing difficulty in scoring runs. All three T20Is were low-scoring affairs with visitors Pakistan claiming the three-match rubber 3-0.

“Bangladesh really need to do some soul searching, do they want to win on such pitches and give ordinary performances abroad and in World Cups? They have great talent and passion for the game but desperately need better pitches if they want to progress," Afridi wrote in a tweet after Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 5 wickets in the third T20I on Monday.

Pakistan registered back-to-back wins in the first two T20Is to clinch the series and headed into the dead-rubber on Monday with an aim to clean sweep the hosts. Bangladesh won the toss and got off to a poor start as they lost opener Najmul Hossain Shanto cheaply on 5 before Mohammad Naim's 47 off 50 balls and Shamim Hossain's 22 helped the hosts post a low-key total of 124 runs on the board.

Pakistan bowlers once again produced a disciplined effort with the ball as Mohammad Wasim Jr and Usman Qadir picked up two wickets apiece. In reply, Babar Azam (19) and Mohammad Rizwan (40) got Pakistan off to a great start with an opening stand of 32 runs. Haider Ali then played a crucial knock of 45 runs to set up the stage for a comfortable win.

However, Pakistan lost the plot in the middle-order and were in a tricky situation with the match going down the wire. Mohammad Nawaz took them over the line on the final ball of the match with a four to help Pakistan clinch the series 3-0.