Lahore, July 2, 2026: Pakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson has said he wants to reshape the team’s leadership culture by developing multiple decision-makers rather than placing the burden solely on the captain, arguing that Pakistan cricket must move away from a “telling culture” towards a more collaborative environment.
Speaking in an interview with a local sports platform, Hesson said Pakistan’s traditional leadership structure often leaves former captains isolated once they step down, with their role in team decision-making diminishing sharply.
“We’re trying to work on having multiple leaders in a team,” Hesson said. “The culture is more a telling culture rather than a cohesive, developing culture.”
He stressed that players should continue contributing to leadership and decision-making even after they are no longer captain, adding that Pakistan wanted to build an environment in which senior cricketers actively support the team both on and off the field.
“What tends to happen is you’re captain and then you’re not, and then you go from making every decision to not making any decisions. We’re trying to change that. When Agha was captain of the T20s he had a number of players that he could lean on, on and off the field, and we’ll do the same with Shaheen as well,” he said.
The New Zealand coach, who previously oversaw New Zealand’s high-profile captaincy transition from Ross Taylor to Brendon McCullum, said a wider leadership group would strengthen Pakistan in the long run.
Hesson also voiced support for the Pakistan Cricket Board’s revamped central contract structure, describing it as a forward-looking model designed to preserve the importance of Test cricket while adapting to the financial and competitive realities of the modern game.
“When I talk about it being an envy of nations, at least we’ve tried to fit a model within the current environment rather than have an arbitrary model that used to work 10 years ago and just roll it over,” he said.
The 51-year-old acknowledged the growing challenge facing cricket boards worldwide in balancing the financial realities of franchise cricket with the traditional value of the Test format.
He said boards across the world were trying to create systems that continued to reward Test cricket appropriately while also recognising the different demands and value associated with each format.
“Every team around the world are trying to find a model that can realistically give Test cricket some value. Most players around the world that play all three forms still consider Test cricket the pinnacle,” he said.
Hesson argued that placing all players under a single payment structure was no longer fair, given the vastly different roles, skills and pressures involved in Test and T20 cricket.
“To compare a Test match opening batsman with a guy that bowls in the powerplay and at the death in T20 cricket, comparing them in the same model is unfair,” he said. “To be able to compare people in the format they’re playing and the value that they add to the team is far more realistic.”
