‘Pressure cooker is an environment for middle, not for all other things’ - Matthew Hayden on Pakistan cricket chaos

Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden the chaotic environment behind Pakistan's inconsistent performances at the top level. Having been in the Pakistan cricket dressing room as a batting coach and also a mentor, Hayden had the first-hand experience of what goes behind the scenes.

Over the last few days, Pakistan cricket has once again engulfed itself into utter chaos, thus becoming a laughing stock in front of the whole world. Following their back-to-back defeats against England in Tests, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released seven players and two coaches.

Among the players were experienced Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha. In fact, Salman Agha had also captain Pakistan in the first Test in Leeds in the absence of regular skipper Babar Azam, who missed the game due to a finger injury.

Test head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul was asked to return home ahead of third Test. White-ball head coach Mike Hesson was summoned to take charge, while PCB named seven replacements, out of which five are uncapped at the Test level.

Speaking at the Wisden Cricket podcast, Hayden admitted that nothing has changed in Pakistan cricket because of its chaotic environment all the time. “I really enjoy and enjoyed my time working with Pakistan. Nothing’s changed, though," Hayden said.

"That’s not an environment, you know; a pressure cooker is an environment for the middle, not for all the other peripheral things that happen outside. And it’s just too difficult an environment to be consistent because this is the formula,” said Hayden, who played 273 matches for Australia.

Matthew Hayden's time in Pakistan

Hayden's first stint with Pakistan came in 2021, when he roped in as a batting coach for the T20 World Cup 2021 in the United Arab Emirates. Under Hayden's guidance, Pakistan reached the semifinals. He came back once again, this time as a mentor for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Pakistan finished runners-up, losing to Australia in the final.

There is no dearth of talent in Pakistan, something that Hayden to believes. According to the swashbuckling former opener, the major trouble for Pakistan's emerging talents is that they never get focussed and is also not allowed to get focussed. They are always in chaos.

Why Pakistan are compared with West Indies?

Hayden also compared Pakistan with West Indies. A dominant force at the world stage in the seventies and eighties, West Indies do not pose a challenge to the lower-ranked teams in current scenario. The same is with Pakistan as Hayden felt they are stopping themselves on their own from regaining the world-beating status.

“Pakistan is that like the West Indies, who I specially mentioned, I would especially mention Pakistan as well, because you’ve got 350 million people in one country that adore cricket and yet every opportunity, cricket doesn’t allow cricket to get played," Hayden explained.

"And that old saying, it’s just not cricket that is so important for this conversation with Pakistan. Because if you allow Pakistan and Pakistan allows Pakistan to just play freely and with trust, then they’ll take on anyone as simple as that because purely their athletic ability like the West Indies is supreme,” said Hayden.