The Pakistan national cricket team got completely outfoxed by India. The Men in Green managed to set a below-par target of 128 runs, where Abhishek Sharma & Suryakumar Yadav toyed with the bowling unit. Pakistan’s head coach, Mike Hesson, has come under fire for his combination and playing 11. It is believed that it was a collective decision by Mike Hesson & Salman Ali Agha to not include Haris Rauf in the playing 11, which hurt the team immensely.
Pakistan’s batting unit looked under pressure against the spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy & Axar Patel. Pakistan astoundingly played 63 dot balls against India, which is quite atrocious in T20I cricket. It would sound a bit harsh, but Pakistan missed the senior batters Mohammad Rizwan & Babar Azam, who could have rotated the strike rather than playing a string of dot balls.
Mike Hesson backs Pakistan’s decision to bat first
Mike Hesson was having an interaction with the media. Mike Hesson pointed out that Pakistan believed that there won’t be that much dew in the 2nd innings, which made the Men in Green opt to bat first. Mike Hesson admitted the fact that Pakistan didn’t bat well even when the wicket wasn’t a flat one.
“Not so much recent history but certainly longer term history, it does [make sense]. I guess over the last six games and even throughout the whole tri-series, sides won chasing. [But] there’s not as much dew as there has been in the past, so dew’s not really a factor,” said Mike Hesson.
“I guess these used surfaces, they’re slow and they get slower. So in many ways, runs on the board the other day can help but we didn’t bat well enough. So that’s the reality, whether we batted first or second we weren’t good enough at the bat,” he stated.
“We left ourselves probably 20 or 30 short and we all know through those middle overs we got squeezed. So lots to work on against a good bowling attack but I was pleased with the way the guys fought hard in the field, albeit with a score that wasn’t enough,” he added.
Problems aplenty for Pakistan
Pakistan’s skipper, Salman Ali Agha, hasn’t been able to assert his dominance with the bat in hand. Salman Ali Agha managed to score a mere 3 runs in 12 balls, as the captain hasn’t been able to lead by example or from the front. It’s quite clear that Pakistan needs to get big runs on board, around 170-190 runs, rather than 130-odd runs, given that dew makes life harder for bowlers in 2nd innings.
It would be interesting to see whether Haris Rauf plays against the UAE on 17th September. The lethal speedster was rested against the UAE & India & Pakistan went with a strong spin bowling attack. Haris Rauf’s absence created an uproar, especially when he was benched against India as his sheer pace might have troubled Indian batters.
With the bat, we were a little bit frenzied- Mike Hesson
Mike Hesson stated that Pakistan didn’t get a brisk start, which was required. Pakistan’s head coach pinpointed the middle overs phase, which dented Pakistan’s score. Mike Hesson was quite optimistic that Pakistan would come back very strongly in the Asia Cup 2025 tournament, as their next encounter is against the UAE on 17th September at Dubai which is a must win clash to qualify for Super 4 stage
“Look I think with the bat we were a little bit frenzied at the start. I think it’s probably fair. You know the ball held in the surface as we expected but we didn’t respond as well as we would like there. We got to the end of the powerplay and we were in the game and then we got squeezed and that built up a lot of pressure during the middle overs,” said Mike Hesson
“I think the more big games you play the more trust you have in your own game and we’ve certainly got some players who are finding their feet but they certainly want to be in the battle and as I said we’ll come back stronger in a few days’ time,” he added.
We have got some quality players- Mike Hesson
Former New Zealand head coach made it very clear that Pakistan has immense talent in their ranks. Mike Hesson praised Sufiyan & said that Pakistan is not far away from being at the top of world cricket. Saim Ayub’s performance, though, has been a forgettable one in tournament with two golden ducks against UAE & India which is a worrisome thing.
“Look, I think today we were outplayed. I don’t think we can hide from that but we’ve certainly performed really nicely with the bat in recent times. We might not have huge names but we’ve got some quality players that scrap really hard for Pakistan and we’ve got over par on the majority of the games we’ve played with the bat,” said Mike Hesson.
“With the ball, we’re finding new bowlers that are helping Pakistan win games, like Saim Ayub, sort of getting back to his best, Sufiyan also had his moments. So look, we’re not far off. We were soundly beaten today, and we’ll certainly go away and look at that but we’re still very much in this tournament,” he added.
Uphill task for Pakistan
Pakistan had lodged a complaint when Indian players refused to shake hands after the match had over. PCB has demanded the removal of the match referee, Andy Pycroft & also threatened that they would not play against the UAE & would go back to their home. Now, it’s a critical moment for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which needs to intervene and sort out this issue.
ACC’s chairman cum president Mohsin Naqvi had tweeted against BCCI & the Indian team on Monday, 15th September, for their decision not to shake hands. Interestingly, Mohsin Naqvi was the previous PCB chief, and this nexus can make things spicy. World cricket fans would be hoping that the Asia Cup 2025 doesn’t get stopped due to this sensitive issue.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav Generates Controversy With No Hand Shakes With Pakistan Players