Legendary fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has thrown Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson under the bus after the side’s loss to India in the Asia Cup 2025 final. Sent to bat first, Pakistan collapsed from 113-1 to 146 all out, a total which India achieved in the final over despite a few hiccups. Tilak Varma rose to the occasion under immense pressure with an unbeaten 69 to anchor India’s chase. In a recent interaction, Akhtar lashed out at the team management and highlighted the flaws in the playing XI.
“It is the blame of the management who is not thinking right. Talking about senseless coaching, I would probably say. I am going to, sorry to say these kinds of harsh words, but it’s senseless coaching,” Akhtar said in a video shared by Tapmad.
Akhtar also criticised Pakistan’s decision to drop Hasan Nawaz from the XI, while highlighting the lack of world-class options in the middle 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.
The 50-year-old also raised questions over captain Salman Ali Agha’s decision-making acumen, adding that giving the final over to pacer Haris Rauf was a big mistake.
“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,” Akhtar further explained.