Here is the full transcript of Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson’s press conference after their 61-run defeat to India in the Group A clash of the Men’s World T20 in Colombo.
(Reporter:)
It is usually said that whoever handles the pressure well will win the Pakistan-India contest. Do you think the Pakistan team could not handle the pressure? Mainly in batting?
(Mike Hesson:)
I’ll be back in a bit. I think with the ball there was obviously a lot of spin in the beginning and I think the way Ishan Kishan played took the game away from us. And I think to be fair to India, they probably got about 25 over on that surface. And then from a batting point of view, we didn’t give ourselves a chance in terms of adapting to the conditions.
(Reporter:)
Coach, just one question. You said it was spinning and Salman Ali Agha had a great start with the balls. So did Saim Ayub who bowled well in his first two overs. But what was the point of keeping Usman Tariq back for so long, the X factor? He could have been, I think, with Ishan going all guns blazing. Do you think Pakistan missed a bit of a trick by keeping Usman so late?
(Mike Hesson:)
Look, Usman is a really good player when players go after him and he has a pretty specific role for us. Could he have jumped after the strongman? Yes, he could. But I think Abrar Ahmed has done a really good job for us, as has Shadab Khan after the over. Both of them bowled which did not suit them in terms of length. But I’d certainly back those guys any day to do the job like they’ve done in the last five wins. So it didn’t work today, but like I said, Usman Tariq has a very clear role and I thought he was exceptional tonight.
(Reporter:)
Coach, four days ago Australia made the same mistake. They first asked Zimbabwe to bat and then failed to chase down 170 runs. And here we made the same mistake again. The pitch was slower and lower. I think if we had batted first it would have been different.
(Mike Hesson:)
Look, I think if you look at the game, the ball was spinning half as much in the second innings and the ball was sliding further. So there is nothing wrong with choosing to bowl first, it was the quality of bowling in the first six overs and also the way Ishaan Kishan bowled in terms of the game that took us. So it definitely has nothing to do with slowing down the pitch. It didn’t slow down, it spun less. So you have to look at facts rather than emotional responsibility. I mean the ball, they rolled forward nicely with the seam. We made some bad choices, but it was definitely not the pitch.
(Reporter:)
You have obviously seen Ishan up front in the IPL and now he has made a comeback in T20 cricket over the last 3-4 months. Why is it so challenging to bowl a batter like Ishan?
(Mike Hesson:)
I think he is fearless. He is capable of scoring on both sides of the floor. So he’s not just committed to the leg side. We know he’s incredibly strong there, but he can backfire. So if you have rotation, especially on the power play, it can be a challenge. But I think the fact that he’s in that rare form of form has put a lot of pressure on our spinners and probably taken them off base, which the pitch actually did a lot of when we bowled nice and slow and into it, but apart from that nobody really scored better than run and ball. Second to Dubey was slightly better but it was tough. And that was definitely the highlight of the entire match, really.
(Reporter:)
Just with the amount built up in this game for off the field reasons, when you came into that environment, how did you deal with the team as a coach? What was the dialogue like?
(Mike Hesson:)
Look, I think we know it’s a massive event, Pakistan against India, but we’ve played good cricket, obviously we’ve won five games on the bounce, we’re confident and we’ve outplayed today. But in terms of preparation, the boys are well prepared. There is quite a disappointed dressing room there at the moment because they know how much it means to Pakistan. We’re really disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we could have, but we’re also part of the tournament and we know in tournament play that it’s not always going to go your way. So our job is to pick ourselves up and make sure we’re very good in two or three days.
(Reporter:)
The coach whose plan was to bat first after winning the toss? Is it the defensive approach?
(Mike Hesson:)
Yeah, I guess, I replied. Both sides went to bowl first as the pitch was soft and the ball spun twice as much in the first innings as in the second. Earlier there was talk of a match with Australia, that was a day match, this is a night match. So, like I said, it has nothing to do with the roll, it was just an execution.
(Reporter:)
The margin of defeat is 61 runs which is the most. The previous high was 12, so this is clearly demoralizing. Like you said, the locker room hurts. You also said that the options the batsmen had today were not great. After all the preparation you’ve done as a coach, how are you doing, it’s very early for you to analyze it, but can you elaborate a little bit, for example, how do you feel when the batsmen take those options after the preparation and after you’ve prepared so well?
(Mike Hesson:)
Yeah, look, it’s a lot, when a guy puts pressure on you, it’s – are you going to stick to your basics or go away? And I think it will be a real challenge because we will be under pressure again as the tournament progresses. And this is how we react when we are under the pump. All these guys are international players, they’re all good players, but when the pressure is on, are they going to trust the decision-making or are they likely to go off the rails? This is something we will need to improve on to progress further in this tournament.
(Reporter:)
In moments like this, in a high-stakes, high-pressure contest like this, can the batsmen think too, despite the experience?
(Mike Hesson:)
I think they can. I think when you see the score and you know it’s probably a little over par, you almost feel like you have to play like Superman and play the game before the conditions allow. And I think we lost goals early on shots that I’m sure were pretty tough on that surface — tough options. On a faster surface, on SSC, it can be a little different. So it’s about adapting and we’ve been really good at adapting to different conditions in the last few months. We probably took a small step back today.
(Reporter:)
First, the decision to bowl Salman Agh in the first over, paved it really well. And the other one, whose decision was it, whose was it in the first place? And secondly, we saw that even in the Asia Cup, if the president of the board comes to meet the players one day before the game, does that add a bit more pressure on the players to go and play? It’s already a very heated match. Does it increase the pressure on the players?
(Mike Hesson:)
Look, I am going to talk about Salman Ali Aga. First, we planned that for about three days in terms of knowing that Siam was probably a matchup that they would expect with their lefties. We felt that the way Aga bowled, if the wicket was a bit sticky, which it was, he could get some advantage out of it. And for the last few training sessions, he has been discreetly practicing with a brand new ball. So it’s something we’ve both discussed. He definitely wanted to do it and he prepared accordingly. As for the chairman, the chairman is a big supporter of ours and he goes with us all the time and before the games. So I don’t think it would definitely not add more pressure. That’s part of his role. And that is part of our guys knowing that we are representing Pakistan.
(Reporter:)
Mike, you’ve been around for a long time, you’ve coached a lot of teams, you’ve also been to the Asia Cup, but the excitement of the India-Pakistan contest is probably something that’s still reasonably new to you as a coach. Is there anything a coach can do to try and keep the players emotionally stable and not get carried away by this opportunity? Can something be done tangibly?
(Mike Hesson:)
Look, we’re trying a few different things. I think the main thing is to just focus on our work. And if we can reduce the distractions as much as possible, I mean, the reality is that it’s not going to be possible to completely reduce them. And just focus on work. And to be fair, when we went back to the dressing room, it wasn’t necessarily the occasion, it was actually the cricketing skill that let us down today. And that’s something we can definitely work on. I don’t underestimate the importance of the game, it’s the only thing the players can do is show up and do what they do best and like I said tonight it was a bit of a step back from our performance that we would have expected.