Interim Head Coach Mike Hesson Says Pakistan Players Used To 'Chaos' After Shake-Up

Hesson Wants Pakistan to Tame the Chaos in Final England Test

Interim head coach Mike Hesson believes Pakistan's gutted squad can rise above the "chaos" of their dramatic mid-series shakeup and finally respond against England in the third Test at Edgbaston (Sept 9).

Pakistan have been dumped out of the series already—crushed by an innings & 103 at Headingley, then by 194 at Lord's—leaving England an unbeatable 2-0 up. The PCB reacted hard, sending seven players home and calling up seven new faces, plus replacing sacked Test coach Sarfaraz with Hesson (who already runs the whiteball setup).

Names sent packing included senior batsmen Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha (who captained at Headingley when Babar was injured), plus left-arm spinner Ali Usman (that 5-wk haul at Headingley) and seamer Khurram Shahzad. Of the seven call-ups, only Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have prior Test caps—so this is a seriously reshuffled attack.

Hesson, who was in Japan for the Asian Games before being pulled to the UK, admitted the last few days were hectic with players coming and going.

"The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am," he said, noting the squad's been "incredibly disappointed" but have stepped up since. His focus now: building a balanced XI with real variety—more pace, mystery spin, and those unorthodox actions Pakistan are famous for. "We haven't really been able to present any of that" so far.

Source: Cricketnmore