Mike Hesson called Nawaz 'best spinner in the world'.
Before the start of the Asia Cup 2025, Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson labelled Mohammad Nawaz as the ‘best spinner in the world’. That statement was incorrect, given India alone have at least two better tweakers, and several other teams possess quality in this department.
What’s worse is that the Pakistan captain has himself proved Nawaz is far from the best, given how he has used his resources in the previous two games. Since coming into the Super Four stage, Nawaz has yet to bowl a single over against India and Sri Lanka, even when conditions have at times demanded his presence.
Even during the group stage, he never completed his quota, bowling two, three, and three overs against Oman, India, and the UAE, respectively. Overall, Nawaz has taken a solitary wicket while conceding 67 runs at an economy rate of 8.37 in three outings in the tournament.
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While Nawaz has continued to contribute with the willow, Salman Ali Agha’s lack of trust in his bowling abilities, even after he led wicket-taking charts leading up to the tournament, makes Hesson’s praise look like yet another bout of Pakistani overhype. Maybe he has improved drastically, but if he were indeed their best spinner, the captain would have definitely used him at some stage in the last two encounters.
Mohammad Nawaz should ideally be capable of bowling across conditions and match situations if indeed he is as good as Hesson thinks. However, the thought process behind his non-usage is understandable, given the opponent Pakistan faced in both fixtures.
In the first Super Four game against India, the team had to restrict Nawaz’s introduction till the 13th over because Abhishek Sharma was in full flow in the middle. Since 2024, he has had a strike rate of 253.33 against slow left-arm orthodox.
Finally, when he was dismissed, India used Tilak Varma as another LHB, with Sanju Samson also capable of scoring big against this bowling type. In the Sri Lanka fixture, Pakistan encountered the same issue, with a number of LHBs in the middle forcing Salman Ali Agha, an off-spinner, to use himself ahead of Nawaz.
Nawaz could have been employed on multiple stages in the last two games, but he wasn’t used even when Pakistan were on top against Sri Lanka. Similarly, when the Indian openers unleashed carnage, Pakistan should have thrown the ball to whom they deem ‘best spinner’, but his non-usage rebuts Hesson’s comments more than anything else can.
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