“Ishan Kishan took the game away from us” - Pakistan coach Mike Hesson after 61-run defeat to India

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson has opened up on Pakistan’s decision to bowl first on a slow and tricky wicket against their arch-rivals India at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, February 15.

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Speaking at the post-match press conference, Hesson defended his team’s decision to chase after winning the toss. He went on to assert that Ishan Kishan’s exceptional batting and India’s powerplay bowling turned the game upside down for Pakistan.

“Look, I think if you look at the game, the ball spun half as much in the second innings and the ball skid on. So there’s nothing wrong with the decision to bowl first, it was the quality of the bowling in the first six overs and also the way Ishan Kishan played in terms of took the game away from us. So certainly nothing to do with the pitch slowing down. It didn’t slow down, it spun less. So you’ve got to look at the facts rather than the emotive accountability. I mean, the ball, they bowled nicely up front with a seam. We took some poor options, but it certainly wasn’t the pitch,” Hesson said at the post-match press conference. 

Batting on a slow and tough wicket, India lost their dashing opener Abhishek Sharma for a four-ball duck. However, his partner Ishan Kishan went on to score 77 runs off 40 balls with 10 fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 192.5 to put India in a good position. Hesson reckoned that India had put up 25 runs above par on the tricky Colombo surface.

“I think the way Ishan played took the game away from us. And I think to be fair to India, they probably got about 25 above par on that surface. And then from a batting point of view, we didn’t really give ourselves a chance in terms of adjusting to conditions,” he added.

“I think he’s fearless. He’s able to score both sides of the ground. So he’s not just committed to the leg side. We know he’s incredibly strong there, but he can reverse. So if you’ve got spin, especially in the power play, it can be a challenge. But I think the fact that he’s in a rare vein of form, applied a lot of pressure to our spinners and probably took them away from the basics. Outside of him, no one really scored better than a run a ball other than Dube who was slightly better, but it was tough. And that certainly was a standout amongst the whole match, really,” Hesson concluded.

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