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Is Mike Hesson suited for Pakistan's limited overs coaching?

How many coaches have been chopped/changed in the past 10 years? I have lost count.

Problem is not the coach it is the base - there’s zero foundation at the club/school/domestic level. No facilities, no infrastructure for the kids. If you don’t have the foundation, its impossible to build. The PCB is the face of overall picture of what’s going on in the country. The country has been destroyed and the kids/young people have no hope. The country itself is a disaster. Chopping the coach is not the solution.

To be honest the foreign coaches need to be hired at the domestic level, U19 teams, A team, Academies because this is where the rot is stemming from. I know its easier said than done and requires a big financial investment but our domestic and academies coaching staff have not produced any world class cricketer for a long time, this is where the problem lies.

In India you see the likes of Laxman, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and co spending time coaching at the academies, U19, A teams and not to mention the foreign coaches at the IPL, some big time legends from Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and co and you can see the return on investment in Indian Cricket with quality cricketers coming through the pipeline.
 
Why can’t legends produce one solid cricketer? Who is stopping them ? Why all are sitting in tv?
Unfortunately due to India’s ban on Pakistan, our former players get very few opportunities to earn money post retirement. A huge contrast to Indian former players, who can make enough in just one IPL season to not spend anytime on these 3rd class tv programs. They have the capacity to spend time with youngsters for free.

Best thing our former players can do is to open cricket academies across Pakistan. Run scholarship programs, find local sponsors but also charge fee from youngsters who can afford to pay. Hire coaches. Also give their time to these academies. Only way i see them finding a talent.
 
Unfortunately due to India’s ban on Pakistan, our former players get very few opportunities to earn money post retirement. A huge contrast to Indian former players, who can make enough in just one IPL season to not spend anytime on these 3rd class tv programs. They have the capacity to spend time with youngsters for free.

Best thing our former players can do is to open cricket academies across Pakistan. Run scholarship programs, find local sponsors but also charge fee from youngsters who can afford to pay. Hire coaches. Also give their time to these academies. Only way i see them finding a talent.
You are thinking too big … forget all that at grass root level just look at u19 or someone who has good potential it can be spotted easily and just mentor them and guide them and help them out … why do you need a post? Do your other monetary things but keep a watch on their development and have a conversation regularly … to me it’s something whether you want to do it or not and mostly the answer is they don’t want to …
 
To be honest the foreign coaches need to be hired at the domestic level, U19 teams, A team, Academies because this is where the rot is stemming from. I know its easier said than done and requires a big financial investment but our domestic and academies coaching staff have not produced any world class cricketer for a long time, this is where the problem lies.

In India you see the likes of Laxman, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and co spending time coaching at the academies, U19, A teams and not to mention the foreign coaches at the IPL, some big time legends from Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and co and you can see the return on investment in Indian Cricket with quality cricketers coming through the pipeline.
For this to happen you need stability, peace, political stability, a proper long term vision, a competent administration and a whole lot other hundreds of things to get it going.

Stealing of elections is the first thing that needs to go and the rest can follow.
 
For this to happen you need stability, peace, political stability, a proper long term vision, a competent administration and a whole lot other hundreds of things to get it going.

Stealing of elections is the first thing that needs to go and the rest can follow.

I am sure there are plenty of good foreign coaches who will happily come to Pakistan to good a domestic team, Pakistan's U19 team, A team or the Academies if you give them a good price. As it is, you find them coming to the PSL for short-term stints.
 
I am sure there are plenty of good foreign coaches who will happily come to Pakistan to good a domestic team, Pakistan's U19 team, A team or the Academies if you give them a good price. As it is, you find them coming to the PSL for short-term stints.
You will find many, many coaches willing to come but the PCB and the overall country needs proper stability to make it work.

Plus - the important point that a lot of people seem to miss is the team has no superstar or a match winner that kids can look up to. In the past, we had legends and that motivated kids to bowl fast or become the next Inzi/Imran Khan.
 
Even though the main problem is the lack of skilled players and low talent levels but the Hesson guy has no clue which players to select for our T20 team.
 
Don't really know what's the job description of a coach these days & how much input he has when the team is being selected. It's clear to me on the skill front that Pak players are just not up to the mark of international cricket. No one sweeps, no one reverse sweeps, scoops, paddles, & 360 play is just not something that they have an idea about. What can a coach do with this?

The question must be asked what the age group cricket coaches are doing. I sometimes get clips from the academies and it looks like in 20 years nothing has changed. The same set of practice drills, the same "jazba, daleri, jigra" talk, & even the pitches & grounds are worse than before. We still have that quarter cement pitch on one end where batters bat.

Do we have a couple of players who can take us forward? Yes.
Are we utilizing them properly? No
Is the coach doing a good job? Can't say anything.
 
So who are the replacements?
Talat should be replaced with a batsman. Hassan Nawaz or Irfan Niazi.

Nawaz is just lol, the guy flops in every big game and bowls 1 over every three matches. Surely they can replace him with ANYONE else.

Fahim done well tbh. Keep him in.
 
Talat should be replaced with a batsman. Hassan Nawaz or Irfan Niazi.

Nawaz is just lol, the guy flops in every big game and bowls 1 over every three matches. Surely they can replace him with ANYONE else.

Fahim done well tbh. Keep him in.
Talat, Salman need to go at least. I don't mind Irfan tbh, but I will keep nawaz, he hits the ball cleanly but is a mental midget. Unfortunately we don't have many options in domestics. I had high hopes from Arafat minhas but he's been a let down so far.

Pakistan atm has too many bowling options. Need to get specialists in.
 
Don't really know what's the job description of a coach these days & how much input he has when the team is being selected. It's clear to me on the skill front that Pak players are just not up to the mark of international cricket. No one sweeps, no one reverse sweeps, scoops, paddles, & 360 play is just not something that they have an idea about. What can a coach do with this?

The question must be asked what the age group cricket coaches are doing. I sometimes get clips from the academies and it looks like in 20 years nothing has changed. The same set of practice drills, the same "jazba, daleri, jigra" talk, & even the pitches & grounds are worse than before. We still have that quarter cement pitch on one end where batters bat.

Do we have a couple of players who can take us forward? Yes.
Are we utilizing them properly? No
Is the coach doing a good job? Can't say anything.

Well said, this is where the problem stems from. This is where the PCB needs to appoint the best foreign coaches i.e. at the domestic teams, U19, A teams, Academies all over Pakistan. Appoint them for 5-10 years and task them with preparing the next generation of players 500-600 players.
 
We are 5 years away from any form of a meangingful comeback. There will be many downs, more than ups so get comfortable.

If there is a coach who is willing to stick it out then we must back him. If Mike remains committed then he should get full backing.

We need to stop this merry go round of coaches. The ex players are always smelling blood and an opportunity for a paycheck. They need to be ignored.
 
@Rajdeep your 13th player bcz 12th were umpires....

Mike Hesson told him to bowl an off-side Yorker, yet he bowled on the leg side in the 15th over and conceded a six, repeated the same in the 18th over, and then again in the final over.

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Yes, I saw this live, Hesson was giving instructions and sending messages to bowlers to take the pace off and bowl outside off stump. He was very good and proactive during the matches. Faheem actually followed his instructions, but Rauf was brainless, kept serving loose balls.
 
I do not think Hesson is a bad coach. He is trying his best, even with the worst players.
 
Hesson heavily use data to control things. I think wrt pakistan it has to be a bit of data bit of gut feeling. MSD's decisions were based logic driven instinct. He reads the game and makes the call. I am not sure Agha has proved any of it. At this point Pakistan's on field decisions appear to be data driven. Heavily influenced by Hesson. Agha has not proved to be street smart.
 
What kind of data says that Nawaz , Fahim , Talat , Khushdil, Agha will be better for Pak t20 team?
I believe team selection is based on successful T20 franchisees around the world. India won with batting depth 8 batsmen in 2024 unit. In the IPL deep line up like CSK, KKR won quiet a few titles. Team make up is done based on that. Idea is perfect. But Pakistan lacks personnel to follow that strategy. So they have randomly assembled a few mediocre all rounders.
 
I believe team selection is based on successful T20 franchisees around the world. India won with batting depth 8 batsmen in 2024 unit. In the IPL deep line up like CSK, KKR won quiet a few titles. Team make up is done based on that. Idea is perfect. But Pakistan lacks personnel to follow that strategy. So they have randomly assembled a few mediocre all rounders.
All these players have zilch performance in PSL then how on earth they can perform at International stage? Really have no idea what was Hesson thinking , it's like half of the playing XI hasn't even performed in domestic games.
 
Add Saim and M.Haris to the list as well as they haven't performed in PSL either , so you are playing the Asia cup with 7 out of 11 players who haven't performed even in domestic cricket, it looks like Hesson didn't bother to look at PSL 2025 stats at all.
 
All these players have zilch performance in PSL then how on earth they can perform at International stage? Really have no idea what was Hesson thinking , it's like half of the playing XI hasn't even performed in domestic games.
Team like Pakistan cannot handle such strategies. When you have 7 or 8 bowling options you are clueless about which bowler to bowl when. It is better you go with 6 options and use them rightly. Too many options can often create more chaos . Especially mediocre ones.
 
Team like Pakistan cannot handle such strategies. When you have 7 or 8 bowling options you are clueless about which bowler to bowl when. It is better you go with 6 options and use them rightly. Too many options can often create more chaos . Especially mediocre ones.
Fair enough but then at least pickup the players who belongs to T20 cricket as a minimum?
 
Fair enough but then at least pickup the players who belongs to T20 cricket as a minimum?
The way i see it they want to stack up a unit where you have a left arm spinner, leg spinner/mystery spinner, off spinner to deal with different match ups. That explains why the supposedly world's best spinner got underbowled. You have a left arm seamer, genuine right arm seamer who controls middle over and seaming all rounder in these conditions. On paper this probably might look good

Let us compare with Australia who has won 7 out of 8 matches in 2025.

Saim - Maxwell off spinner/batsman
Faheem - Mitch Marsh - medium pacer/batsman
Abrar - Zampa
Md Haris - Alex Carey
Farhan - Travis head
Agha - Green
Talat - Dwarshuis
Faheem - Sean Abbott
Shaheen - Haazlewood
Fakhar - Mitch owen.
Rauf - Tim David

Look at the difference in make up and the quality of the Australia. It is not even on the same planet.
 
It is because of him that we reached finals without a run rate or a miracle win of other teams and atleast were able to somewhat compete with India
 
What kind of data says that Nawaz , Fahim , Talat , Khushdil, Agha will be better for Pak t20 team?
Team like Pakistan cannot handle such strategies. When you have 7 or 8 bowling options you are clueless about which bowler to bowl when. It is better you go with 6 options and use them rightly. Too many options can often create more chaos . Especially mediocre ones.
In the Asia Cup, the issue wasn’t Faheem or Nawaz at 7 and 8 — nor Saim’s bowling, which was actually face-saving. The real problem was the top 6 batting. Future risks are valid, but you’re misdiagnosing the present by trying to fix what wasn’t broken.
 
In the Asia Cup, the issue wasn’t Faheem or Nawaz at 7 and 8 — nor Saim’s bowling, which was actually face-saving. The real problem was the top 6 batting. Future risks are valid, but you’re misdiagnosing the present by trying to fix what wasn’t broken.
I didn't say that is the only problem. One of the many problems you have. THey all impact your team to varying degree.
 
I didn't say that is the only problem. One of the many problems you have. THey all impact your team to varying degree.
I know. But it was “not one of the problems” , it was the strength of this team. Despite poor performance from the top6, that’s the reason you reached final anyway. You’re purely speculating on what could be, but the facts show that bowling in the Asia cup was good as were the contributions from no7 and 8. Why fix what ain’t broke.
 
I know. But it was “not one of the problems” , it was the strength of this team. Despite poor performance from the top6, that’s the reason you reached final anyway. You’re purely speculating on what could be, but the facts show that bowling in the Asia cup was good as were the contributions from no7 and 8. Why fix what ain’t broke.
The poor performance in top 6 was because of the bowling options.

Saim, Agha and Talat were playing as all rounders.

Realistically 2 of them should be dropped for proper batsmen.
 
I believe team selection is based on successful T20 franchisees around the world. India won with batting depth 8 batsmen in 2024 unit. In the IPL deep line up like CSK, KKR won quiet a few titles. Team make up is done based on that. Idea is perfect. But Pakistan lacks personnel to follow that strategy. So they have randomly assembled a few mediocre all rounders.
He coaches Islamabad United in PSL and uses the same strategy there . That's how they won in 2024. They used Imad, Shadab and Faheem
 
The poor performance in top 6 was because of the bowling options.

Saim, Agha and Talat were playing as all rounders.

Realistically 2 of them should be dropped for proper batsmen.
Saim Ayub, Hussain Talat, and Agha Salman were selected as specialist batsmen. They’re all batters first, with part-time bowling skills. Labeling them as “all-rounders” is misleading, even if their form was poor in a given series.
 
Ser Davos of Pakistan cricket

Here he is hyping up Shaheen Afridi to Naqvi and selection committee
 
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Mike is doing a good job considering the limitations of the players he can select.

It took a few goes from Naqvi but he's got it right.

Hopefully he remains committed and stays with PCT for as long as possible. We desperately need some continuity in leadership.
 
He is not suited anymore because he brought back Babar in t20s. Also dropped Haris along with Hussain talat and Khushdil.
 
How long is his appointment for? I read somewhere that he had been appointed till either the T-20 WC in 2026 or the ODI WC in 2027.

Personally his approach of managing the Pakistani team filling it up with so many bits and pieces all rounders has badly backfired.

Sure overall he can say that Pakistan under his tenure has won more than they have lost but facts be told, he have lost to India 4 times in a row and the rest of the wins are against the likes of Oman, UAE, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa C team, Australia C team.

Also the way he dumped and threw the likes of Mohammad Haris, Hassan Nawaz after a few failures is very poor. If you want to talk about playing a ruthless, modern, play your shots regardless of the situation brand of cricket then you have to back your players and stick with them.

I would personally give him the ODI WC before bringing this topic up again. We can't be recycling coaches after losing to the big teams, this is more a reflection of our substandard domestic system more than anything else.
 
How long is his appointment for? I read somewhere that he had been appointed till either the T-20 WC in 2026 or the ODI WC in 2027.

Personally his approach of managing the Pakistani team filling it up with so many bits and pieces all rounders has badly backfired.

Sure overall he can say that Pakistan under his tenure has won more than they have lost but facts be told, he have lost to India 4 times in a row and the rest of the wins are against the likes of Oman, UAE, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa C team, Australia C team.

Also the way he dumped and threw the likes of Mohammad Haris, Hassan Nawaz after a few failures is very poor. If you want to talk about playing a ruthless, modern, play your shots regardless of the situation brand of cricket then you have to back your players and stick with them.

I would personally give him the ODI WC before bringing this topic up again. We can't be recycling coaches after losing to the big teams, this is more a reflection of our substandard domestic system more than anything else.
he must answer for the amount of rellu katta allrounders. Its something that has been baffling from the start. I think Faheem has done ok since his return but using him as an example we need to understand why Faheem who barely bowls is in the side ahead of Nawaz, Fakhar, Khawaja. Is the answer that he believes a non-bowling Faheem is still a better batsman than them?

Similar questions must be asked of M Nawaz and why we play 8 bowling options overall. I would love to here an answer to understand this logic.
 
I think more than the coaching, Who ever is selecting the team (like actually selecting) the squad for these tournaments in playing eleven is the one who needs to be removed, be it mike hesson, agha, both, or someone else, who ever chose these 15 players, needs to be removed, we have better players than can represent Pakistan, we might not win the world cup, but there i better players than these guys.
 
I can appreciate him being frank in the post-match presser, ultimately, he's not out there playing so you can't really blame him for what they did on the field. But he does need to admit that he made some major tactical errors tonight. Beginning with the decision to bat first. The team balance is also not right. Blunders like these already put you on the backfoot before the game begins. And against a top side like India you can't really afford to do that, because they already outmatch you interms of skill. R. Premadasa is one of the toughest grounds in the world to chase on under lights. That's a fact. How can you just ignore that over a hunch that the wicket looks "tacky"? Ofcourse there's a good chance that India would have chased down whatever total Pakistan set anyway but Pakistan would still have had a better chance of winning batting first.
 
Any coach playing Babar, afridi and shadab cant be taken serious.

Also team is out of balance. Way too many bowlers and only a couple of players who can bat!
 
Mike Hesson needs to remove babar + 1 of shadab/nawaz

Babar makes way for fakhar
One of shadab/nawaz makes way for nafay

So many relu kattas are not needed.

Saim, Faheem, shadab/nawaz can bowl 8 overs per match

Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq, abrar need to bowl other 12

Hesson sucks at assigning clear roles
 
I can appreciate him being frank in the post-match presser, ultimately, he's not out there playing so you can't really blame him for what they did on the field. But he does need to admit that he made some major tactical errors tonight. Beginning with the decision to bat first. The team balance is also not right. Blunders like these already put you on the backfoot before the game begins. And against a top side like India you can't really afford to do that, because they already outmatch you interms of skill. R. Premadasa is one of the toughest grounds in the world to chase on under lights. That's a fact. How can you just ignore that over a hunch that the wicket looks "tacky"? Ofcourse there's a good chance that India would have chased down whatever total Pakistan set anyway but Pakistan would still have had a better chance of winning batting first.
I think this is right.
Given the obvious difference in the quality of the players between the two sides, for Pakistan to win they would have to get all the tactical calls right (past history indicates batting first is the way to go at RPS) and also play at there very best whilst India would have to be at there worst.
Any other eventuality leads to the usual result of an Indian victory.
 
I think Hesson is trying to working strategies from franchisee cricket. But Pakistan doesn't have resources. Also they are blindly following instructions i think. I don't think they adapt themselves to different situations, different conditions, different scenarios. India was up against it when they were 34/4 at the MCG. Massive ground. Early season pitch . Very fast pitch, bouncy pitch. Kohli was in terrible form. He put on a master class of how to give yourself a chance. At one point he was scoring so slowly. But you don't ned to pass information to him. He knows when to push when to pull. In this Pakistan team no such independent thinking players. They just rely on input from Hesson.
 
Hesson has become a minnow basher. lacks a clear plan evident by the fact team loaded with bogus allrounders
 
He’s not to blame

He’s been brilliant!

You handicap a good coach with crap players being forced in!
 
He’s not to blame

He’s been brilliant!

You handicap a good coach with crap players being forced in!
How brilliant ? By worshipping his loved one Shadab? Or playing Faheem as fielder ? And dropping Fakhar to accommodate Babar ? That’s brilliant coach then khuda hafiz to this team
 
No.
Not dynamic and aggressive enough.

Mickey Arthur is Pakistan’s best coach ever after Murhoom Bob Woolmer.
 
What can Hesson do if these boys lack skill and character?

The criticism is going over board now. Just because it’s India, we are getting too emotional.
 
We need work at the grass root, it’s good we have started school cricket now the next step would be have an U16 league and then select the top performers and split them in to 3 teams and then national U16 team which should do tours to SENA countries every second year so that they can be prepared for U19 worldcup and then have a policy so that every department team and Quaid trophy team must have two U21 players in the playing XI.

Do that stuff and in 5 years time we will be as competitive as India.
 
Plus annual U19 team tours to SENA countries to develop them more.

So this way the next 21 year old player which will get in to national team will come along from rigorous process and 2/3 SENA tours plus U19 worldcup already under his belt plus 2 seasons of domestic cricket, He will be 10 times more polished this way.
 
So far he is been below average

Zero strategy against big teams

Hopefully he stops this nonsense of all rounder
Given that he had 0 strategy but do you see the legendary XI even using their heads? No coach can ever fix Pakistan's mental issue no one!
 
Given that he had 0 strategy but do you see the legendary XI even using their heads? No coach can ever fix Pakistan's mental issue no one!
Yeah you are right

But why he brought back these legendary guys back in team
 
Yeah you are right

But why he brought back these legendary guys back in team
Babar and Shaheen can never be dropped man, I have given up hope now. Hesson has accepted Bobzy's fanbase is too big to anger. Even today some morons are defending him, while blaming the other players in the team. The delusion is reaching unimaginable levels.
 
Babar and Shaheen can never be dropped man, I have given up hope now. Hesson has accepted Bobzy's fanbase is too big to anger. Even today some morons are defending him, while blaming the other players in the team. The delusion is reaching unimaginable levels.
Then continue to see humiliation until we get rid of this 🔔
 
Coach is not the issue. It is the lack of skill.
Not even lack of skill, it's about management lacking in nurturing their talents and wasting their great potential. There is a big pool of players but they could not even get ready an expert wk for such a crucial tournament to replace Rizwan.
 
Whilst this team is mediocre at best, Hesson has been investing too much in relu kattas + his lack of spine to drop Shaheen/babar means he’s bound to get rubbish results against good teams
 
Hesson and his bits and pieces approach has flopped Pakistan. Always go with specialists Imran khan use to insist.
 
Hesson's mentality has been exposed badly... He is trying to convert bits and pieces player into legends... His obsession with shadb, faheem, saim, nawaz allroudners is hurting us more.
 
Hesson's mentality has been exposed badly... He is trying to convert bits and pieces player into legends... His obsession with shadb, faheem, saim, nawaz allroudners is hurting us more.
Yeah his obsession with fake all-rounders has hurt us big time
 
Yeah his obsession with fake all-rounders has hurt us big time
But but but he strengthened our core with these guys. Look, he sidelined Babar...wow.. He made Salman captain...wow... He dropped Rizwan, wow... Nacho... keep doing bhangra..
 
But but but he strengthened our core with these guys. Look, he sidelined Babar...wow.. He made Salman captain...wow... He dropped Rizwan, wow... Nacho... keep doing bhangra..
Babar is still there in team

And what he has done nothing
 
Babar is still there in team

And what he has done nothing
Hesson accepted that he cannot play after 10-12 overs then how can you still play him at 4??

This is total brainfade stuff.. Saim is hack and failed badly in 2 events but still he is opening. why?? Because he can play no-look no brain shot?
 
Hesson accepted that he cannot play after 10-12 overs then how can you still play him at 4??

This is total brainfade stuff.. Saim is hack and failed badly in 2 events but still he is opening. why?? Because he can play no-look no brain shot?
Saim is also not performing but other one has opened in last 3 WCs

How many WC we have won?
 
Pakistan have had their best ICC tournament in many years, prior to this we were humiliated at home during the CT and then the group exit at the last World T20.

If you keep chopping & changing how do you expect to progress, this set-up even with some flaws, have an understanding of modern T20 requirements and vision for where they need to be.

Hesson has done as well as he could dealing with the politics behind the scenes, there are certain players he got no choice but to include in the team and they impact the overall potential, not saying the strategy from him and Aga can’t be tweaked, but they are being held hostage by external perpetrators.

Bringing back the prior regime will not help Pakistan and the PCB need to force their hand with some of the senior players to allow the current leadership more freedom.
 
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