Mike Hesson will remain Pakistan’s interim Test coach until the current World Test Championship cycle ends, a Pakistan Cricket Board source said on Sunday (November 8). The call settles who runs Pakistan’s Test side for the rest of the 2025-27 cycle.

Hesson already holds the white-ball job, so both senior teams stay under one head coach. He took charge of the red-ball team on an interim basis during the England tour two months ago and has now agreed to see the cycle out. The arrangement covers the Test series against New Zealand next year.

The board and the head coach have passed the message on to the players. Hesson will be in charge for that New Zealand series next year. Hesson arrived in May 2025 as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach. He added the Test job after his predecessor Sarfaraz Ahmed was removed during the England tour, a trip the source called disastrous.

The interim tag is not new. Hesson has held the Test role since that England tour, and the PCB has extended it rather than making a permanent appointment.

The decision has not quieted the debate around him. Hesson divides opinion in Pakistan cricket, with the fraternity split over the powers the PCB has given him in selection and other cricketing matters. Running both formats gives him a say across Pakistan’s squads in Tests and white-ball cricket.

Pakistan Test captain Babar Azam said on Sunday he has no role in selection, a job handled by the management and the selection panel. He said his job is to draw the best from the 15-16 players he is given. The PCB source said Hesson is close to chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who trusts him with cricketing decisions.

Former players and critics have questioned his frequent changes to squads and personnel across formats.

“Hesson will also be interim head coach for next year’s Test series against New Zealand. The board and head coach have both conveyed this to the players as well,” the PCB source said.

“Hesson’s association with Pakistan cricket will be reviewed after next year’s World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. It will also then be decided who will be the head coach of the Test side for the next cycle of the World Test Championship,” the source added.

Pakistan will name a permanent Test coach only after that review, with Hesson’s own future to be settled at the same time.