Pakistan Great Comes To Son-In-Law Shadab Khan's Defence After T20 World Cup Exit, Namedrops Axar Patel

Saqlain Mushtaq blamed head coach Mike Hesson for all-rounder Shadab Khan's poor showing in the T20 World Cup 2026. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in a thrilling Super 8 encounter on Saturday but failed to improve their Net Run Rate (NRR), as the Salman Ali Agha-led side crashed out of the semi-final race. Shadab, who is Mushtaq's son-in-law, faced tremendous criticism from both fans and experts for his lack of form. The legendary Pakistan spinner blasted Hesson for not utilising Shadab properly and even cited the examples of Mitchell Santner and Axar Patel to prove his point.

"What is the performance of Mitchell Santner? If I am getting it right, you are saying that... How many wickets has Axar Patel taken? What I am saying is that I think Mike Hesson demanded too much from him in both batting and bowling and did not use him properly," he said on Tapmad.

Shadab scored 118 runs in seven matches and, with the ball, he took just five wickets. Mushtaq recalled that when he was the head coach, he was told that Shadab was good with both bat and ball but needed to be utilised in the proper way. The legendary spinner said that there were 'technical errors' in Hesson's handling of the all-rounder.

"His utilisation... He wants both batting and bowling. And when I was head coach, the information given to me by the selection committee was that he is equally good in both batting and bowling. But your utilisation should be right. If his utilisation was right, the value of the things could have been better."

"Like, today, Naseem was given the third over, which was wrong. Similarly, Shadab Khan was given the third over. That was also wrong. There were technical errors," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Saqlain Mushtaq Shadab Khan Pakistan Cricket Team T20 World Cup 2026 Axar Patel Mitchell Santner Cricket