Hesson stresses balance ahead of Pakistan’s Asia Cup opener | The Express Tribune

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson praised his team’s bowling attack but admitted that the batting lineup is still developing as they prepare for their Asia Cup opener against Oman in Dubai on Friday, according to ICC.

Pakistan head into the Asia Cup in strong form, winning 10 of their last 14 T20Is under coach Mike Hesson. However, the success has come with a reshaped batting order that no longer features experienced stars Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.

This has opened the door for players like Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub to step up, but Hesson believes the batting unit is still finding the right balance.

“It’s very much a developing batting line up,” Hesson said on Thursday. 

“And there’s a number of players who, on their day, can win you the game, but they don’t have as many good days as you’d like at the moment,” he added. 

“I think that’s very fair. The thing for us, though, is we’re more interested in the sum of the parts as a batting group. Because there are times where 150 is good enough, there are times where 190 might not be. So you’ve got to, as a batting unit, decide what’s required to win the game and see if we can get above that,” he further added. 

While the batting remains a work in progress, Hesson expressed full confidence in Pakistan’s bowlers, especially the spinners, who have played a key role in the team’s recent victories.

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz was named Player of the Series in Pakistan’s tri-series win over Afghanistan and UAE, while Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem have also impressed with consistent performances.

“I guess the beauty of our side is we’ve got five spinners,” Hesson noted. 

“We’ve got Mohammad Nawaz, who’s the best spin bowler in the world at the moment, and he’s been ranked that way over the last six months since he’s come back in the side,” he further noted. 

“And obviously we’ve had Abrar (Ahmed) and Sufiyan (Muqeem) do as well as he has. Saim Ayub is now in the top 10 all-rounders in the world. So obviously that comes on the back of his improved performance with the ball. And Salman Ali Agha has hardly bowled, and he’s obviously the Test spinner for Pakistan,” he explained. 

Hesson’s immediate target is to begin the Asia Cup with a win against Oman, but he knows attention will quickly shift to Pakistan’s second group-stage clash — a high-voltage encounter against India on Sunday.

“We know that India are obviously hugely confident, and rightfully so, in terms of how well they’ve played,” he said. 

“We’re very much focused on improving as a team, sort of day by day, and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, but we’re well aware of the… I wouldn’t say the enormity of the task, I’d say the challenge of the task ahead, and we’re certainly looking forward to it,” Mike said.

Hesson further addressed questions about Babar and Rizwan’s shortcomings, clarifying that he hadn’t highlighted any frailties. 

“Being honest about your assessment of players is pretty important. Coming from a place where you have no agenda is also very important,” he said. 

“What I have alluded to is the way the modern game is played and the strike rates required, particularly in good conditions,” he added. 

After addressing questions about Babar and Rizwan, Hesson was pressed on Pakistan’s batting concerns — from Mohammad Haris’ role in the lower order to the inconsistency of Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan, and the struggles of Hasan Nawaz. The discussion also shifted to whether Pakistan’s batters have trouble reading spinners from the hand, particularly with India’s Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav looming on Sunday.

“I don’t know where that has come from,” Hesson responded to the suggestion. 

“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,” he concluded. 

Pakistan will kick off their Asia Cup campaign against Oman on Friday, before facing arch-rivals India in a highly anticipated clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, September 14.