As the Pakistan men’s team gets ready to take on neighbours Afghanistan in their training for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025. Former head coach Mickey Arthur has backed his successor Mike Hesson and skipper Agha’s move to ignore senior players Babar and Rizwan. Arthur said the skillset of players keeps evolving. And said only those players who perform according to the team’s T20 style must get picked.
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While backing the plans and approach of Hesson and Salman Agha in matching the Twenty20 cricket style of top teams like India and Australia. Arthur said he knows why former captains Babar and Rizwan were not picked for the Asia Cup 2025, starting on September 9. Before that, Pakistan will test its latest brand of hockey in the T20I Tri-series. In which Afghanistan and hosts USE are their opponents.
Arthur said under his tutelage, Pakistan had risen to number one in T20I rankings in 2018 after Babar Azam led the team to a runners-up finish in the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia. A slump started after that, and since then, Pakistan has played 52 T20Is, losing 30 and winning 20 with two no results.
They have now slipped to eighth in T20I rankings and face a transition phase with new coach Hesson dropping Babar and Rizwan for not matching the new and fast style of T20I cricket. Mike is an unbelievably good coach, and I respect him a lot, Mickey said. I am sure he will do a wonderful job for Pakistan. I think the game has changed.
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Asia Cup Final: Pakistan Must Adapt T20 Style to Modern Demands
The T20 game has changed, and in terms of the skillset, you have to change with the times. And that’s no slight on Babar and Rizwan because they are very good players. Arthur said Hesson and Agha are picking players who fit their vision. And that is why they ignored Babar and Rizwan. With Pakistan targeting success in the future Asia Cup Final. The stress is on building a side that matches the violent style.
But clearly Mike and Agha are trying to get a vision and brand they want to play. And they are selecting the people that are at their disposal to be able to execute their brand, said the seasoned coach. Under my coaching, we became world No.1 in T20Is. I think we won 11 series in a row. Sarfaraz and I did a lot of work. And framed a plan on how we can win with the three assets that we had at our disposal.
Those resources, we thought, were a good bowling lineup. We had pace, we had swing, and we could take wickets constantly. There was a good spin attack with us. We decided that we must get to around 160, and then we knew we could defend that with the kind of bowling attack we had in the conditions of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
That was the game plan, and that worked invariably. It even worked in New Zealand. We kind of won around the world because we had a very good plan and a vision. We built the team around those skillsets that we had at our disposal. We had good death bowling with Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
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Asia Cup 2025: Pakistan’s T20 Slump Tied to Loss of Identity
They could get wickets regularly, and in the middle overs, Shadab Khan was excellent. While Imad Wasim provided Pakistan with control and breakthroughs in the Power-play overs. That balance in the attack was the core of the strategy. It was never about chasing 200-plus; rather, it was about understanding the resources available and building a winning formula around them.
With quality fast bowlers like Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi at the death. And a reliable spin combination in the middle overs, Pakistan had a clear identity. However, according to Arthur, things began to decline when that clarity of purpose and brand of cricket disappeared. The slump was not just about results but about losing sight of a defined style of play.
The team then started to slump because they did not have a brand, and brand is the best word, Arthur explained. The brand went all over, and when it’s all over, people do not know what they are playing for. Then people end up playing for themselves because they do not know what the plan is.
For Arthur, success in T20 cricket comes from having a strong vision, sticking to a clear plan. And selecting players who fit that brand rather than just picking big names. With Pakistan now preparing for the Asia Cup 2025, Arthur believes this approach is crucial to compete against top sides.
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