Nawaz is world's best spinner: Pakistan head coach Hesson

Dubai, Sep 11 (PTI) Firing the first salvo ahead of high profile Asia Cup clash against arch-rials India, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson on Thursday termed left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz as "best spinner in world cricket".

Nawaz, who recently got a five-for against Afghanistan in the tri-nation T20 final at Sharjah will headline Pakistan's slow bowling alongside wrist spinners Sufiyan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed.

Ahead of Pakistan's game against Oman, Hesson's press meet was throwback to early '80s when Imran Khan would nonchalantly claim that "Wasim Akram is the best bowler in the world, Javed Miandad the best batter and Abdul Qadir the best spinner." However Hesson's claims were more in your face without conviction when asked if Sunday's match would be a battle between wrist spinners (Abrar and Sufiyan vs Kuldeep and Varun).

"When you have got wrist spinners like that, it doesn't really matter about the surface as much. I guess the beauty of our side is we've got five spinners. We've got Mohamed Nawaz, who's the best spin bowler in the world at the moment, and he's been ranked that way over the last six months since he's come back on the side," Hesson said, responding to a query from PTI.

But the former RCB head coach's claim was surprising as the latest ICC T20I rankings show that Nawaz isn't even in top-15. His current rank is 30.

"And obviously, we have Abrar and Sufiyan. Saim Ayub is now in the top 10 all-rounders in the world," another Hesson's claim that remain unfounded.

"And Salman Ali Agha has hardly bowled, and he's also the Test spinner for Pakistan. So, you know, we've got a lot of spin bowling options, if we think conditions suit that.

"If we don't, we have got five pacers as well, who, you know, allow us to either go for airspeed or change of pace or reverse swing, depending on what we think the surface will provide," the coach said with an air of confidence.

Hesson wasn't amused when asked if Pakistani batters are able to read the wrist spinners out of their hands.

"We have played against probably the best wrist-spin attack in the world (Afghanistan) on a surface that has spun square, and we managed to score 70 more than our opposition, so I'm not quite sure where that's come from," he said.

But a line-up comprising Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Hasan Nawaz and Muhammad Harris is a developing one.

"The other part, I mean, look, you're right, like, we are a, it's very much a developing batting line-up, and there are a number of players who, on their day, can win you the game, but they don't get as many good days as you'd like at the moment, and I think that's very fair.

"The thing for us, though, is we're more interested, I guess, in the sum of the parts as a batting group, and in every game in Sharjah, we were probably 20 above par," he said.

He spoke about the tri-series final where Pakistan won by 75 runs on a difficult track.

"Even in the final, 120 was plenty on that pitch and we got 140, and I anyone watching that game would have been well aware of that as the ball was stopping and spinning, so the fact we scrapped 140, you're never going to play with fluency on those types of surfaces," he added.

"We also got 200, we got 180, and we had 150 chasing, which was probably our poorest performance. Outside of that, as a batting unit, we've got the job done.

"Would we like every one of them to be in form at the same time? Of course we would, and I guess the chance, playing out here, and it certainly looks like it's going to be a pretty good pitch, is for a few of those guys to find some form and play in innings that we don't have to play." Hesson, who has been an IPL coach and a TV pundit, is excited about the battle ahead.

"Look, I've certainly watched many games from afar. With other teams or commentating. So certainly being on the other side of the fence, I guess, you know, being right there amongst, you know, such a highly charged audience is going to be exciting," Hesson said. PTI KHS AT KHS AT AT AT