Former speedster Shoaib Akhtar has launched a scathing attack on head coach Mike Hesson after Pakistan suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of India in the Asia Cup 2025 final in Dubai on Sunday (September 28).
The Men in Green put up another awful performance with the bat, crumbling in the middle overs and suffering a miserable collapse from 113/1 to 146 all out in 19.1 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav starred with the ball for India, returning with the figures of 4/30 in four overs while Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel picked up two wickets each.
In reply, the Men in Blue were reduced to 20/3 inside the powerplay. However, Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson steadied the ship by adding 57 runs for the fourth wicket.
Samson was dismissed for 24, but Tilak (69* off 53) stayed till the end to take his team over the line with two deliveries to spare. Shivam Dube (33 off 22) also returned with a stunning cameo to put India on the brink of victory, while Rinku Singh (4*) hit the winning boundary.
Akhtar was left dejected by the outcome and slammed the Pakistan team management, especially highlighting Hesson's 'senseless coaching' for not picking Hasan Nawaz in the XI to bolster the middle order.
"It is the fault of the management that is not thinking right. Talking about senseless coaching, I would probably say. I probably – I am going to, sorry to say these kinds of harsh words, but it's senseless coaching," Akhtar said on Tapmad.
"Again, the match-winner Hasan Nawaz, and then we have Salman Mirza not playing. Again, it became a little difficult. We are very disappointed, very hurt. It was a Super Sunday, and the whole nation was watching, but our middle order is already a problem. You know it, I know it, we all keep saying our top three batsmen in the middle are a problem. And obviously, if you are asking too much from Mohammad Nawaz, and again, when Shaheen Shah Afridi and Faheem Ashraf have to bat ahead, it's questionable. Again, you expect the lower order to add 50 more runs, so we reach 175 – there are too many errors. Too many mistakes," he added.
The Rawalpindi Express also lambasted Salman Ali Agha's captaincy for giving overs to Haris Rauf over the spinners who were troubling the Indian batters.
"Captaincy is questionable. Bowling changes – when the batters are struggling facing spinners, there was no need to bring in Haris Rauf, he leaked 17 runs in an over which was not the need. There are many reasons we lost, but again, it’s okay. It’s fine," he remarked.
