Mike Hesson Addresses Pakistan’s Batting Struggles in Opening ODI Against Bangladesh

Mirpur:

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson’s role has come under the scanner ever since Salman Ali Agha and his men failed to qualify for the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2026. To make things worse, Pakistan got bowled out for 114 runs in the first ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur. The team succumbed to their fourth-worst ODI loss in history. However, Hesson has not shied away from admitting that his team was exposed against Nahid Rana’s pace, who picked up five wickets.

For the unversed, Pakistan were bundled out for just 114 runs in the first of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh. They collapsed from 41/0 to 82/9 and it needed a 32-run stand for the last wicket for them to save from embarrassment. Faheem Ashraf batted well with Abrar Ahmed to take his team past the 100-run mark.

Rana picked up the first five wickets to fall and then Bangladesh skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz accounted for three scalps to shut the comeback doors for Pakistan. “It’s a pretty disappointing batting performance. I don’t think there’s any shying away from that. It wasn’t just the youngsters, we were exposed against some good bowling and we went into our shell a little bit, and we have to turn things around really quickly,” Hesson said.

Hesson feels there was nothing wrong with the pitch

Interestingly, Mike Hesson was the one who had criticised slow, turning pitches in Bangladesh during Pakistan’s tour for the T20I series in July last year. However, he conceded that there was nothing wrong with the pitch in Mirpur for the first ODI. Moreover, Bangladesh batted on the same surface and chased down the target in just 15.1 overs with eight wickets in hand.

“The wicket was fine. It played pretty well. Nahid Rana was exceptional. Until he came into the game, we were ticking along okay, and he changed the game. He bowled into the wicket, created some variation and bounce, which he’s allowed to do when he’s bowling at that pace. And we didn’t respond as well as we needed to. So all credit to him,” Hesson added.

The second ODI between Pakistan and Bangladesh is set to be played on March 13 with the visitors looking to stay alive in the series.

Also Read

          </div>

function loadFacebookScript(){ !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘init’, ‘529056027274737’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’); } window.addEventListener(‘load’, (event) => { setTimeout(function(){ loadFacebookScript(); }, 5000); });