Pakistan coach explodes over King Charles report: ‘Somebody just made something up’

Britain’s King Charles III meets members of the Pakistan cricket team during an audience with the team at Clarence House in London, Wednesday, September 2, 2026 (left), and Salman Ali Agha Pakistan’s interim Test coach Mike Hesson denied reports that Salman Ali Agha had refused to attend a meeting with King Charles III, saying the story was completely false and calling it “unacceptable journalism”.A report by Britain’s The Telegraph on Thursday claimed that one of the players dropped from Pakistan’s Test squad had refused to attend a meeting with the British monarch.Hesson dismissed the report, saying that Salman had been informed well in advance that he would not be attending the Buckingham Palace visit.Hesson said Salman did not attend the audience with the king because he was part of a trio of players who were the first to be dropped from the team, and as a result, Salman, Imam and Rizwan were removed from the attendance list for Clarence House, the BBC reported.“Look, I know there’s been a gap in the news, but people just make up stories. Salman Ali Agha, as I said, three players were dropped from the squad before I arrived, long before Buckingham Palace,” Hesson said on Friday.“A message was sent to them at the time that the three players would not be attending Buckingham Palace. So someone made something up,” he added.Hesson said the players remaining in the squad had already been invited to the event and there had been no last-minute changes.“As for the other players, all the other players that were in the squad were already on the roster. I was already on the roster as the head coach of the white ball, so there were no changes to it,” he said.“It was all very straightforward. Someone put two and two together and came up with nine. To me, that’s unacceptable journalism,” Hesson added.After defeats in the first two Tests against England, there were changes in coaching and the squad in Pakistan.Pakistan lost the first Test at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs before suffering a 194-run defeat at Lord’s that gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.The Pakistan Cricket Board then made drastic changes, sending home seven players, calling up another seven players and replacing Test head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed Hesson, who was already serving as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach.Senior players Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha, who captained Pakistan in the first Test at Headingley when Babar Azam was injured, were among the players asked to leave the tour.