Veteran paceman Shoaib Akhtar lashed out at Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson after suffering defeat to India in the Asia Cup 2025 final. It was another disappointing show from the bat by Pakistan as they crumbled in the middle and suffered a miserable collapse from 113/1 to 146 all out. India’s spin trio Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel spun their web as the Pakistan middle-order failed to get going, and wickets kept tumbling for them. Kuldeep was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets in his kitty, while the other two spinners picked two each.
Chasing the moderate target, India has a shaky start to its innings, dropping to 20-3 after four overs, including the big wicket of Abhishek Sharma (5). Tilak Varma led the recovery alongside Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube to revive the chase. Left-handed Varma scored 69 not out for India off 53 balls, including a crucial six against Haris Rauf in the 20th over. Rinku Singh hit the winning runs with a four — the only ball Singh faced in the entire tournament.
Akhtar didn’t hold back and lashed out at the team management, especially pointing out Mike Hesson’s ‘senseless coaching’ for not picking Hasan Nawaz in the XI to strengthen the middle order.
“It is the blame of the management who 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.
He expressed frustration over his team’s batting struggles, criticising the middle order for not standing up on big occasions and relying on the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Faheem Ashraf to score big in the lower order.
“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 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.
“Salman Agha’s captaincy is questionable”
The Rawalpindi Express also bashed Salman Ali Agha’s captaincy for giving overs to Haris Rauf over spinners who were causing trouble for the 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 added.
