COLOMBO
\nPakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson did not mince words when assessing where things went wrong for his side following Pakistan\u2019s crushing 61-run defeat to India in the ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup 2026 clash at R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
\nThe loss, which leaves Pakistan\u2019s tournament hopes hanging by a thread, was dissected with brutal honesty by the New Zealander in the post-match press conference.
\nBut where exactly did Pakistan lose the match? Was it at the toss when they elected to field first? Was it during overs 5-8 when Ishan Kishan plundered 52 runs? Or was it in their calamitous batting powerplay, which ended with the scoreboard reading a dismal 38 for 4?
\nFor Hesson, the answer was clear: the batting collapse proved decisive, with his players making poor decisions and tactical errors as India\u2019s bowlers tightened the screws.
\n\u201cWhen the guys are putting you under pressure, are you going to stick to your basics or are you going to go away from that,\u201d Hesson asked in response to a question at the press briefing after the game. \u201cAnd that\u2019s going to be a real challenge as the tournament progresses: we\u2019ll be put under pressure again and that\u2019s how we respond when you are under the pump.
\nThe coach didn\u2019t spare his batters from criticism. While Saim Ayub fell to a fast, swinging yorker from Jasprit Bumrah that would have troubled any batsman, the shot selection of Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha, and Babar Azam left Hesson searching for answers.
\n\u201cAll these guys are international players, they\u2019re all good players, but when the pressure comes on are they going to trust the decision-making or are they going to probably go outside [of their plans]? And today, pressure made us go outside there and that\u2019s something that for us to progress further in this tournament, it\u2019s something we are going to have to get better at.\u201d
\nHesson conceded that his batters succumbed to overthinking, possibly trying to play like \u201cSuperman\u201d to chase down a target he believed was 25 runs above par. The magnitude of an India-Pakistan contest, he suggested, may have contributed to the mental errors.
\n\u201cI think they can [overthink],\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you see a score and you know that it\u2019s probably a little bit above par, you almost feel like you\u2019re going to play like a Superman and take the game on earlier than the conditions allow you to.
\nThe coach was particularly critical of the shot selection that led to early wickets.
\n\u201cWe lost wickets early on to shots that I\u2019m sure on that surface they were pretty tough, tough options. On a quicker surface, [like the] SSC, it might be a little bit different. So it is about adapting and we\u2019ve been really good the last few months about adapting to different conditions. Today we probably took a little step back.\u201d
\nDespite mounting questions about whether Pakistan erred by putting India in to bat, Hesson staunchly defended the decision.
\n\u201cBoth sides were going to bowl first because the pitch was soft and the ball spun twice as much in the first innings than the second,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ball skidded on [in the first innings]. So there\u2019s nothing wrong with the decision to bowl first.\u201d
\nWhen comparisons were drawn to Australia\u2019s defeat against Zimbabwe in a day game where the winning side batted first, Hesson dismissed the parallel. \u201cThat was a day game. This is a night game. Nothing to do with the toss \u2013 it was just execution.\u201d
\nHesson revealed the defeat had hit hard in the Pakistan dressing room, with players acutely aware of what the fixture means to their nation.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty disappointed dressing room in there at the moment because they know how much it means to Pakistan,\u201d Hesson said. \u201cAnd we are really disappointed we didn\u2019t play as well as we could, but we\u2019re also part of the tournament and we know in tournament-play that it\u2019s not always going to go your way. So our job is to pick ourselves up and make sure that we\u2019re very good in two or three days.\u201d
\nFor the unversed, Pakistan will now face Namibia in their final group-stage fixture in Colombo on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLOMBO Pakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson did not mince words when assessing where things went wrong for his side following Pakistan\u2019s crushing 61-run defeat to India in the ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup 2026 clash at R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. The loss, which leaves Pakistan\u2019s tournament hopes hanging by a thread, was dissected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-531790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n