"Don't know" — Mike Hesson on Pakistan's Rizwan removal

Pakistan’s white-ball coach, Mike Hesson, who came as an interim Test coach to replace Sarfaraz Ahmed after their two successive defeats against England in the three-match series, revealed that their squad looked a bit chaotic after seven players were dropped after their second game at Lord’s.

In four innings with the bat during the series, Pakistan failed to cross 200 runs, which never allowed them to put enough pressure on the home side. They lost the opening game by an innings inside three days at Leeds before getting a 194-run defeat at Lord’s.

“Really don’t know” — Hesson distances himself from Pakistan's squad overhaul

Hesson reckoned that he had returned from Japan, where the Asian Games 2026 were shaping up, before getting the eleventh-hour call from the PCB to join the Test side in London and take over as an interim coach for the third match at Edgbaston.

Watch Mike Hesson's press conference here-

“We already had a white-ball camp in Lahore, and I had just returned from Japan, where the Asian Games are taking place, when I was asked if I could manage the red-ball squad. I decided to make some changes in the squad to get balance into the squad, and my emphasis has been on having a bowling attack which has variety and where we have a couple of bowling all-rounders.” Hesson addressed in the pre-match press conference.

“The last couple of days have been challenging for being in a hotel with some players coming, some players going, and then the arrival of everyone. The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am. There’s no doubt they have been disappointed, incredibly disappointed.” He informed.

Mike Hesson speaks on taking over from Sarfaraz Ahmed mid-series

The former New Zealand player clarified that the decisions of leaving Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, and wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan weren’t up to him. He revealed that all of those decisions were made before his arrival.

“I was heading over to see the King and be part of a nice occasion. That got expedited. The last couple of days have been challenging for being in a hotel with some players coming, some players going, and then the arrival of everyone.” He highlighted.

“The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am. There's no doubt they have been disappointed, incredibly disappointed. We've had to park that and go 'righto, where to from here?' They've been really good over the past couple of days.” The Pakistan coach said in the presser.

Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal returned to the squad along with the five uncapped players, including spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas, left-arm seamer Mohammed Imran Jr, wicketkeeper Said Baig, and all-rounders Mohammad Imran and Razaullah.

“From my perspective, it's about putting a balanced squad together, not only for this Test, so we actually have some variety in our attack. Pakistan is known for the pace, unusual actions, mystery spin – we haven't really been able to present any of that.” Hesson concluded.