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'Only for a job extension': Shoaib Maqsood slams Mike Hesson over 'dusty' Lahore track after AUS beat PAK

'Only for a job extension': Shoaib Maqsood slams Mike Hesson over 'dusty' Lahore track after AUS beat PAK originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Australia beat Pakistan by 41 runs on a difficult Lahore turning pitch.
Maqsood blasted team management for prioritising job extension over World Cup prep.
Pakistan fans echoed anger on social media, backing Maqsood's criticism.

Shoaib Maqsood accuses Pakistan coach Mike Hesson of prioritising jobs over 2027 World Cup readiness

Sohaib Maqsood criticised Pakistan's strategy to build rank turners and blamed Mike Hesson for only thinking about a "job extension" after Australia beat the hosts by 41 runs on a tricky Lahore wicket on Tuesday.

Unlike the track in Rawalpindi used for the opening match, this one offered significantly more spin and uneven bounce throughout, and Australia navigated it far more comfortably than their hosts.

Batting first, they used up all 50 overs to post 231, a total that always looked likely to test Pakistan on conditions that were not conducive for batters.

Matt Kuhnemann made an immediate impact when Pakistan came out to chase. Both openers were back in the pavilion within the first two overs, and by the 12th over, the hosts had lost half their side for just 58 runs.

It was a collapse that effectively ended the contest, though Shadab Khan's defiant 71-run innings kept Pakistan's hopes alive. However, wickets kept tumbling at the other end, and after Tanveer Sangha removed Shadab, Pakistan's resistance came to an end in the 44th over.

Shoaib Maqsood fires shots on social media, but Hesson pushes back on pitch controversy

Former Pakistan batter Sohaib Maqsood did not wait long to make his feelings known. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, he wrote that the conditions being produced were not helping Pakistan.

He wrote: "These conditions are neither Good for your spinners, pacers, nor for your batters in terms of preparing for the World Cup. The only thing we are trying to achieve is probably a Trophy or a job extension 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 #AUSVSPAK."

However, Hesson defended the decision to prepare spin-friendly surfaces and argued that Pakistan had previously shown they could perform on such pitches.

He said: "We certainly showed before the World Cup out here that we were capable on these surfaces with the bat. We haven't quite shown that yet in one-day cricket. And that's going to be our challenge heading into the World Cup, where, you know, some pitches will provide surfaces like this.

"We also know that we are playing a heap of matches in different countries leading up to the World Cup. We'll play on some bouncy ones, we'll play on some flat ones. And as a team, we have to pick a 15 that's suitable for all of those conditions, not just short, not just fast and bouncy, either."

Pakistan fans are not buying Mike Hesson's pitch argument

Pakistan supporters took to social media in numbers to back Maqsood's view.

One fan, @PCTFighter56 wrote: "Pitch look very Dusty tbh and simply by any means it's not 250+ surface."

Umpire @jamilmusman_ argued: "Was looking forward to a different pitch in Lahore. But if we are curating similar conditions here as well, what will we achieve by winning a bilateral series? We won back to back ODI series before CT25, what was the result? Prepared similar pitches before WT20, what did we get?"

Another fan, @shahidk24081344 wrote: "Aaqib (Javed) and Hesson saved their jobs only to make this type of surface, but in reality, they destroy Pakistan cricket from its roots."

Whereas, @Invincible_Paki, said: "With the current management, Pakistan will be out of the World Cup group stage."

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