Hesson backs Pakistan to save their best for tri-series final against Sri Lanka

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson has made one thing clear before Saturday’s tri-series final in Lahore: his side, in his view, have not played their best cricket yet. The real performance, he says, is being saved for the final, where Sri Lanka stand between the Green Shirts and the title.

The final will be played at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday, 31 October, starting at 1pm, with the toss at 12:30pm. Pakistan reached the decider with three straight wins, while Sri Lanka arrive with the confidence of an eight-wicket victory over the hosts in the last league match.

“We haven’t played our best game yet”
Speaking to PCB Digital during a training session at the LCCA Ground in Lahore on Thursday, Hesson said the past couple of weeks had brought decent cricket, without ever being perfect. Winning three matches in a row while several key players failed to fire, he argued, says something encouraging about the depth of this side. “I still don’t think we have played our best game yet,” he said. “Hopefully, we are saving that for the final.”

A struggling top order, but faith in the seniors
There is no hiding the top order’s troubles in this series. Fakhar Zaman has managed just 31 runs in four innings, while former captain Babar Azam has scored 118 in the same number of outings. Saim Ayub, after 21 runs in three innings, was released from the squad at his own request, with Sahibzada Farhan called up in his place. Hesson, though, is standing by his senior batters. “You are talking about two of the greatest players in Pakistan’s history in the top three,” he said. “I expect big players to stand up in big games.”

The road to the final: three wins, then a jolt
Pakistan opened the series with a 37-run win over Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, then thumped England by 87 runs at the same venue. At Gaddafi Stadium, Shadab Khan’s maiden ODI century carried them to a one-wicket win over England in a finish that went down to the wire. The unbeaten run ended with a jolt: bowled out for 110 in the final league game, Pakistan watched Sri Lanka chase the target down with more than 30 overs to spare. Hesson has owned that defeat, but his message is that a final is a different match altogether.

The middle order has carried this team
If Hesson has one group he keeps coming back to, it is the middle order. Salman Ali Agha struck 107 off 90 balls in the opening win over Sri Lanka, and Hasan Nawaz made 79 against England. According to the head coach, Salman now has more hundreds than any other Pakistan player batting at number five or below. Since taking over as white-ball coach last year, Hesson has overseen 12 wins in 19 ODIs. On Saturday, he wants the trophy to go with them.