Pakistan having psychological advantage over New Zealand? Mike Hesson opens up
Here’s the full transcrip of Mike Hesson’s press conference before the Super 8 clash between Pakistan and New Zealand.
[Reporter:]
Now the tougher stage starts. How ready is the team and what do you think are the areas of improvement?
[Mike Hesson:]
We’ve certainly spent the last six months getting to this point. So the fact we made the Super 8s is the position we want to find ourselves in. We’ve played some pretty good cricket, I think we’ve won eight of our last ten games, and we’ve had many different players stand up at different times, so confident with where the group is at. We didn’t play so well out on this surface last time, so looking forward to putting that right tomorrow. And I think it’s probably just adjusting to the conditions a little bit better than we did last time here. But outside of that, , boys are prepared well.
[Reporter:]
Coach, Mark Chapman was here in the afternoon and he said, we have played a lot of cricket with Pakistan in the last few years and we know what are they bringing up. Any compliments for that? And secondly, can you please tell us, Usman Tariq is your attacking option or the defensive one?
[Mike Hesson:]
I mean, Mark Chapman has an incredible record against Pakistan, both in Pakistan and at home for him. So he’s faced a lot of our bowlers, and he’s had some success. But this pitch will bring some different challenges and we’ll have some different thoughts around how we might find a way of trying to subdue him a little bit. But he’s certainly not the only threat, there’s plenty of them. So we won’t be focused just on one, but your question was Usman Tariq, I think he’s one of those bowlers around the world that does both. He’s able to attack and defend at the same time. And that’s an incredible skill to have, so we’re very fortunate that he’s on our side.
[Reporter:]
If we talk about numbers, Pakistan has an edge on New Zealand. They won five out of seven T20 World Cup matches. Last time New Zealand beat Pakistan was in 2016. So do you think there’s any sort of psychological edge on that numbers? And if we talk about Pakistan, Pakistan has climatised in this condition and they have come, just arrived there and they didn’t have a proper training session there as well. So do you think there’s a psychological edge Pakistan has in this match?
[Mike Hesson:]
I don’t think games are won or lost psychologically. I think they lost, they won through skill. , New Zealand have played a huge amount on the subcontinent in recent times. Sri Lanka tends to spin a little bit sharper than it does in India as a general rule. And, we saw that a little bit at SSC. We saw that also during the first innings in particular here the other night. So I don’t believe anyone’s got a psychological edge. Obviously, I remember the 2016 game. I was there at the time. I remember that and I remember us preparing pretty well against Pakistan. We had a lot of different threats. So, yeah, what’s happened in the past is in the past. We’re looking forward to starting the Super 8s well tomorrow.
[Reporter:]
Mike, we are failing to understand why Babar Azam is batting at number 4. When we look at the timeline of Babar Azam, he opened in LP, he opened in Big Bash, he opened for Pakistan when he was captain, even in PSL. But why are you making him play at number four? Because this seems to be a cricketing suicidal for Babar Azam, making him play at number four in T20s.
[Mike Hesson:]
Well, look, it’s what the team requires. And Babar is well aware of that. I think he’s well aware strike rate in the power play in World Cups is less than 100 in T20s. So clearly, that’s not a role that we think here we need. We think he’s a fine player through the middle, if required, in terms of if we’re in a little bit of trouble, or as we saw against the USA, once he gets himself set, he can increase his strike rate at that point. So, we brought Babar back in for a specific role post the Asia Cup. We wanted some batsmanship through the middle, and he certainly brings that for us. And he did in many games throughout the last 10. So, the other day we got to the 12th over mark and at that point, Babar Azam is not the best person to come in. We’ve got plenty of other options who can come in and perform that role towards the end. And Babar is actually the first to acknowledge that. He knows that he’s got a certain set of skills that the team require, and there are certain times where other players can perform that role more efficiently.
[Reporter:]
It’s been almost one year you have joined this team as a head coach and Abrar has been one of top-notch players In this stint and if we look at the wicket charts abroad has been second league leading wicket again in last 12 months But after India’s game just after one game. He has been dropped Do you think Pakistan is too much relying on the all-rounders and it might be risky against top teams?
[Mike Hesson:]
Look, I think, you’re calling them all-rounders, but Nawaz is one of the best performing spinners in the world in T20 cricket. Since Shadab’s come back – his figures have been exceptional. Saim already in the side anyway, and obviously has the ability to bowl the carrom ball. So there are certain times where – and Salman Ali Agha obviously opened the bowl on the other day. So, we have six spin bowlers. There are times where we don’t need that, that many. And, the fact that Usman Tariq has been able to bowl the tough overs through the middle and the end has been a real advantage for us. So look, there could well be conditions in this tournament where we might go spin heavy again, or even more spin heavy than we already do. And we know that Abrar would be ready if required.
[Reporter:]
Just a question on the middle order. It’s basically one dimension, too many right-handed batter there. Do you think in the Super 8, will we see Fakhar coming in place of anyone, be it a Babar or someone else in the playing eleven, do you think? Because it’s pretty one-dimensional now. After Saim, the other southpaw that in Pakistan playing eleven is, if I’m not wrong, Mohamed Nawaz. Your thoughts on that?
[Mike Hesson:]
Yeah, I mean, we have Nawaz, we have Faheem as well, who are both left-handers who can do a role there. But absolutely, I mean, Fakh is in the squad. We know that if he’s required, if we end up having to play a lot of left-arm spin and the ball turns, that the advantage of that is important. And we’ve got that flexibility within the squad.
[Reporter:]
Are you satisfied with the current approach of our top order, especially with the middle order?
[Mike Hesson:]
Look, top order has been exceptional in three of the games. We played on a different surface at SSC the other day during the day and it was actually quite two-paced and I thought we absorbed a bit of pressure in that power play well. If we went too hard too soon, we could have found ourself in a little bit of trouble. I think there was a bit of talk about – we needed to attack it a little bit more, but conditions didn’t really allow that. And then once the seam got softer, it got easier. And we saw Aga and then Shadab, and obviously, Sahibzada Farhan dominate the last 15 overs.
[Reporter:]
Coach, Fakhar and Shaheen still on bench. Usually we see if any senior player did not perform well, other senior player replace because they are waiting on the bench. So why they Both are still on the bench because already Pakistan played four games.
[Mike Hesson:]
We picked the best team to play that particular game for Pakistan. We made a call that Salman Mirza was coming in for Shaheen. He bowled incredibly well. To be fair, he was probably really unlucky to not be playing the second and third games. His record since he started playing for Pakistan is exceptional. And conditions have dictated that we’re only playing two seamers, and often those two seamers are not even bowling their full complement. And I’ve already talked about Fakhar just before.
[Reporter:]
Just want to ask, we haven’t seen Naseem Shah bowling in any match, so do you think, is it a lack of confidence on him from the team management or do you think tomorrow is the best day to play him because it’s overcast conditions and Pakistan should go for the specialist bowlers?
[Mike Hesson:]
Look, I’m sure you’ve watched enough games out here to know that spinners have played a huge role. And even in the games we played, our spin, we bowled something like 14 overs a spinner, went at just over seven an over. And we had seamers in our tank who didn’t even bowl their full complement. So even when Shaheen played or even Salman Mirza the other day, they still didn’t bowl their full complement at overs because we didn’t need them. And that’s the luxury of the team. But we also know that if conditions suggest that we need more seam and probably more Pallekelle than here, then we know that Naseem is bowling incredibly well and we’ve got options, but we’ll pick the best team for the conditions.
[Reporter:]
I want to know about Abrar, will we see him playing tomorrow game since the pitch is very slow here in Premadasa? Also regarding the role of Saim Ayub, he has been struggling with the bat and scored 63 runs in four matches. Yes, He’s bowling well but he’s not doing with the bat. Can we see him going down the order and Babar will open with Farhan?
[Mike Hesson:]
Like I said, we’ve won eight of our ten games. The series before this, Saim was the highest run scorer. So we certainly don’t look at one or two games in isolation. The first game against, one of those first two games, he actually played quite nicely, got caught at short thirds, got a good one from Bumrah, got himself in a poor position, but we know that Saim Ayub, if he gets it right, will take the game away from anyone. Sure, he’s bowling well. I mean, that certainly helps. And he’s bowling tough overs as well. So, yeah, look, I wouldn’t expect huge changes. As I said, we’ve built our rankings increase over the last eight months around consistency and making subtle changes, but we weren’t making big changes. Oh, look, Abrar, I’m not going to tell you what the team is. I’ll tell you that.
[Reporter:]
As far as the Namibia game was concerned, I mean, in terms from Pakistan’s point of view, in terms of approach and the thought process, did we see a paradigm shift in the way Shaheen Shah Afridi was dropped, the use or rather the non-use of Babar Azam? Was the India game a line in the sand moment?
[Mike Hesson:]
No, I wouldn’t say that. I think, as I said, Salman Mirza deserved his opportunity. And Babar was the first to recognise when left arm spin was taking shape and it was turning that it wasn’t a smart move to send out two right handers. And then we, the left arm spinner had finished and Nafe went out to take the game on. That’s what we needed at that time. So no, certainly not a paradigm shift, more about roles.
[Reporter:]
In last match against Namibia, when Salman got out, you had a heated discussion with him. We saw the footage. What was that? Please explain.
[Mike Hesson:]
I’ve actually got sent that video, and You guys have really got that wrong. So I’ll talk you through what happened. So I was going over to talk to Salman about getting Nawaz to put the pads on as a left hander, and Agha was upset that he just got out, so he threw the bottle into the ground. Nothing to do with the conversation we were having. And then, obviously, as I said, once the left arm spinner finished, we talked about shut up, go and getting his pads on to come in after – So it was a really simple conversation that often he wasn’t even part of. He was just standing there being pretty disappointed that he was out, and it just happened to be in the crossfire. So, amazing what people can interpret sometimes.
