Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson reacted to BCCI lodging an official complaint against both Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf for doing provocative gestures during their previous clash against India in Asia Cup. While Farhan did a controversial 'gun' celebration after reaching his half-century, Rauf was seen signalling '6-0' to the Indian fans while fielding at the boundary rope. With this gesture, he was referring to Pakistan's claim of dowing six of India's fighter jets during Operation Sindoor.
This led to the BCCI filing a complaint against the two and they will now be appearing before Richie Richardson for a hearing on Friday. It remains to be seen if any sanctions will be imposed on them or not. Meanwhile, Hesson has now broken his silence on the matter and has stated that his and the team's primary focus is to play good cricket because that is what their job is.
Hesson's remarks on BCCI's complaint
"Look, my message is that we are focused on the cricket and we certainly will be doing that. Those things, you probably know more about than I do. I deal with the cricket side," Hesson told reporters.
"In terms of gestures, there is always some passion isn't there? In terms of when you are in high-pressure games , our focus will be on playing a good game. That's a part of my job," he added.
On the other hand, Hesson also expressed confidence in the current Pakistan team after they qualified for the Asia Cup final with their victory over Bangladesh on Thursday. The Men in Green will now be facing India for the third time in the ongoing tournament and this time it will be for the title. Hesson pointed out that the way they played against India in their previous match was far better than how they played in their first clash.
"Certainly not (no mental block). The way we played against India in the last match was a huge step up from the first game. We were a bit passive in the first game. We allowed India to control the game. In the last game, we had India by the scruff of the neck for a long period. It took an exceptional innings from Abhishek Sharma to take the game away from us. Outside of that, we were pretty good," Hesson stated.
Pakistan's major improvement in form
Meanwhile, Pakistan have picked up form in their last few matches as following their defeat to India in the opening match of the Super 4 stage, they went on to defeat both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to make it to the final. Though their performance with the bat is still unconvincing, their bowling department is firing on all cylinders and can pose quite a lot of challenges for Suryakumar Yadav & Co. in the final on Sunday.