Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson has urged his side to show greater discipline with bat and ball after their defeat to India in the Asia Cup on Sunday, warning that imp\u00adrovement is essential ahead of their must-win fixture against the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. Hesson conceded that Pakistan had been \u201csoundly beaten\u201d on a spin-friendly track where Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav dictated terms. \u201cWe were a little frenzied at the start,\u201d he said, noting his side\u2019s inability to adapt to conditions. \u201cWe got to the end of the powerplay and were in the game, but we were squeezed in the middle overs, which created a lot of pressure.\u201d That pressure translated into a collapse, leaving Pakistan 20 to 30 runs short of a competitive total. The coach identified strike rotation against spin as a major shortcoming. \u201cIt\u2019s not about picking the spinners; it\u2019s about what you do when you pick them,\u201d he remarked. \u201cDot-ball pressure forced big shots and dismissals.\u201d Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan have also come under scrutiny after a string of low scores. Hesson, however, defended the pair: \u201cFour games ago, they were averaging 40 as an opening partnership. They\u2019re key players, and I\u2019m confident they\u2019ll turn it around.\u201d Explaining the decision to bat first despite the venue\u2019s chasing record, Hesson said that with little dew and used surfaces slowing down, runs on the board remained a viable option. \u201cWe didn\u2019t bat well enough, whether first or second. That\u2019s the reality,\u201d he admitted. Hesson, however, lauded the fielding display, calling it a reflection of \u201ccharacter and fight.\u201d Looking ahead, he underlined the need for sharper execution. \u201cWe need to play better than we did today. We\u2019re not far off, and I\u2019ve got confidence in this group to come back stronger.\u201d With qualification prospects hinging on their next outing, Hesson stressed the stakes. \u201cIt\u2019s a must-win game for us to progress. We\u2019ll need a lot more fight to have another crack in the Super Fours.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan head coach…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3280,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}