Hesson denies any agenda behind brutal assessment of senior players as Pakistan open their Asia Cup campaign.
‘No agenda, just honesty’ – Hesson defends assesment of senior players.
Coach Mike Hesson was asked halfway through his press conference before Pakistan’s Asia Cup opening match against Oman on Friday where he found the “courage” to publicly discuss the flaws of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Hesson asked to have the question repeated, a little surprised. This time, Hesson’s response was measured and the inquiry was softer.
“Being honest about your assessment of players is pretty important,” Hesson said. “Coming from a place where you have no agenda is also very important. Looking at things objectively is important. I haven’t talked about anyone’s frailties.
“What I have alluded to is the way the modern game is played and the strike rates required, particularly in good conditions. All players ask for from coaches is to be honest with them. That is the responsibility you’ve got. Just because you like a player or have a relationship with a player, it doesn’t mean you can’t be honest.”
After discussing such subject, Hesson was questioned about his confidence in Pakistan’s batting. In the lower order, was Mohammad Haris their best option? Why was Hasan Nawaz doing poorly and Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan inconsistent? Do batters from Pakistan find it difficult to identify spinners from the hand? When Pakistan plays India in Dubai on Sunday, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav’s challenge was the backdrop.
“I don’t know where that has come from,” Hesson said about the perceived struggle against spin. “We have played against Rashid [Khan] and Noor [Ahmed]. We have played against possibly the best wrist-spin attack in the world [in the tri-series final on Sunday] on a [Sharjah] surface that has spun square and managed to score 75 more runs than the opposition. I’m not sure where that has come from.”
Hesson then addressed the question about Pakistan’s young batting line-up.
“It is very much a developing batting line-up,” he said. “There are a number of batters who can win you the game on their day, but they don’t have as many good days as you’d like at the moment. That is very fair. The thing for us is the sum of the parts as a batting group.
“Every game bar one in Sharjah, we were probably 20 runs above par. Even though there are a number of players who didn’t do well on particular occasions, I’m more interested in what we end up with and how we get there. In the tri-series final, we got 140 when 120 was plenty on the pitch.”