Mike Hesson Defends Salman Ali Agha Against Royal Snub Claims
Mike Hesson has hit back hard at claims that Pakistan batter Salman Ali Agha refused to meet King Charles III, branding the report “made up” and “unacceptable journalism” as the fallout from Pakistan’s bruising Test tour of England takes a fresh twist off the field.
The UK-based Telegraph had reported that one of the players dropped from Pakistan’s Test squad declined to attend an audience with the monarch at Clarence House, implying a deliberate snub. Salman’s name quickly swirled through the rumour mill.
Hesson, Pakistan’s interim Test coach, was having none of it.
Speaking on Friday, he made it clear the story, as far as he is concerned, is fiction.
“People are just making up stories,” Hesson said, stressing that Salman had been told well in advance he would not be part of the Buckingham Palace visit. The decision, he explained, had nothing to do with politics, protest or personal choice. It was logistics. Pure selection.
Salman, along with Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan, was among the trio removed from the Test squad as Pakistan’s tour unraveled. Once they were sent home, Hesson said, their names were automatically taken off the list of players scheduled to meet King Charles at Clarence House.
“They were sent a note at that time that these three players would not be attending Buckingham Palace. So, someone’s just made something up,” Hesson said, clearly irritated by the suggestion that Salman had refused to go.
The coach underlined that there were no late dramas around the royal engagement. No quiet withdrawals. No last-minute reshuffles.
“All of the rest of the players that were in the squad were already on the list. I was already on the list as the white-ball head coach, so there have been no changes to it,” he said. “It was all very straightforward. Someone’s just got two and two together and come up with nine.”
For Hesson, in a week where Pakistan cricket has already been dragged through the wringer on the field, the leap from routine selection calls to a supposed royal snub crossed a line.
“For me, that’s unacceptable journalism,” he added.
The backdrop to this flare-up is a Pakistan side in turmoil after being outplayed in the first two Tests against England. At Headingley, they were thrashed by an innings and 103 runs. At Lord’s, the margin was 194 runs. England walked away with an unassailable 2–0 lead in the three-match series, and Pakistan walked into a storm.
The Pakistan Cricket Board responded with sweeping changes. Seven players were sent home. Seven new faces were called up. Test head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed was removed from his role and Hesson, already in charge of the white-ball setup, was handed the Test reins on an interim basis.
Among those told to pack their bags were senior opener Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha, who had captained Pakistan in the first Test at Headingley when Babar Azam was injured. In cricketing terms, their omission was dramatic enough. Now, one of those exits has been dragged into a culture-war narrative around a royal engagement.
Hesson’s intervention aims to shut that down. For him, the story is simple: three players were dropped, informed they would not attend the palace visit, and the rest of the squad carried on with a pre-arranged engagement.
No boycott. No stand-off with the King. Just a team in crisis, a coach trying to steady it, and a reminder that in the vacuum created by defeat, even a routine guest list can become a headline.
