RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson has provided a reason for Mohammad Rizwan’s exclusion from the ODI series against Australia.
Rizwan was dropped from the national team after a lacklustre show against Bangladesh, where he scored only 54 runs in three matches, with an average of 19.33.
Hesson reflected on the team’s performance over the past year and highlighted the performance of Mohammad Rizwan while speaking to the media.
There is faith in our white-ball side. “We have made real progress in the past 12 months,” he said to reporters.
“When I came in, Mohammad Rizwan was not part of the T20 squad; he was not the captain, so he has been absent from T20 cricket during my involvement,” he said.
Hesson said the decision to change captaincy came after the team had just two wins in the away series against the West Indies over the past year.
“In ODIs, Rizwan was captain in the West Indies series, but we needed a change at the end of that tour, winning just two matches in the last year. “The team had not performed, and we look at individual numbers and the team as a whole when making decisions,” the coach said.
“You look at two things: you look at individual numbers, and you look at how you can get the best out of the team. So we felt we wanted to change the captaincy’s point of view,’ Hesson clarified.
“The idea behind bringing in fresh faces is to explore more options,” he said, adding that the selection committee had decided to drop Rizwan.
“We have to look at all options available from a team perspective, and that was the decision of the selection panel. “We’ve had a bunch of series together, and we’ve found places to get better, like we do with every player.
“We have got many areas to work on in ODI cricket. “Our powerplay bowling and taking wickets early is one of the main issues, and it has been an area of weakness for the last 12 months. “We’re trying to get better quality bowlers and get better at how we do things,” he said.
The three-match ODI series against Australia will start on 30 May at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
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