Hesson attributes heavy loss to frenzied start and middle over squeeze

A frenzied start and Indian bowlers putting a squeeze on the batters in the middle overs were the main reasons behind Pakistan’s heavy loss to the arch-rivals in their Asia Cup match here, said head coach Mike Hesson.

Opting to bat, Pakistan lost two wickets in eight balls and could never really recover from that body blow, ending with a below par 127. India gunned down the target inside 16 overs.

“Look I think with the bat we were a little bit frenzied at the start. The ball held in the surface as we expected but we didn’t respond as well as we would like there.”

“We got to the end of the powerplay and we were in the game and then we got squeezed and that built up a lot of pressure during the middle overs.”

“I think the more big games you play the more trust you have in your own game and we’ve certainly got some players who are finding their feet but they certainly want to be in the battle and as I said we’ll come back stronger in a few days’ time,” said Hesson.

He also defended the decision to bat first on a slow surface.

“Not so much recent history but certainly longer term history, it does (make sense to bat first). Over the last six games and even throughout the whole tri-series, sides won chasing.”

“There’s not as much dew as there has been in the past, so dew’s not really a factor. I guess these used surfaces, they’re slow and they get slower. So, in many ways, runs on the board the other day can help, but we didn’t bat well enough.”

“So that’s the reality, whether we batted first or second we weren’t good enough at the bat,” said the former New Zealand coach.

Pakistan play the UAE in their final league game on September 17. Hesson is confident that his players will bounce back from the heavy defeat.

“Today we were outplayed. I don’t think we can hide from that but we’ve certainly performed really nicely with the bat in recent times. We might not have huge names but we’ve got some quality players that scrap really hard for Pakistan and we’ve got over par on the majority of the games we’ve played with the bat.”

“With the ball, we’re finding new bowlers that are helping Pakistan win games, like Saim Ayub sort of getting back to his best, Sufiyan also had his moments. So look, we’re not far off,” added Hesson.