Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson believes his young side can draw inspiration from the senior team’s fightback against India in last year’s closely contested Asia Cup final if the two teams meet at the Asian Games men’s cricket competition.
India and Pakistan can only face each other in the medal rounds if both teams win their respective quarter-finals. Pakistan, one of the four seeded teams alongside India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, will begin their campaign against the runners-up of Group B on September 28.
Pakistan defeated every opponent they faced during last year’s Asia Cup but suffered three defeats against India, including in the final. The result extended India’s dominance in the rivalry, with Pakistan losing their last six matches against their arch-rivals.
Hesson acknowledged India’s current standing in white-ball cricket but believes Pakistan can challenge them if they get the opportunity to meet at the Asian Games.
“India are the benchmark in terms of white-ball cricket at the moment and our challenge is to catch up to that,” Hesson said on the sidelines of Pakistan’s pre-departure camp in Karachi.
“We are preparing as best as we can and if we get an opportunity to play [India], we will certainly put them under pressure as we were able to do in the final of the Asia Cup. There is a lot of cricket to be played between now and before being able to play the final for both sides, so we are not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” Hesson added.
The Asian Games will mark Pakistan’s return to T20I cricket since their exit from the T20 World Cup in the Super Eight stage earlier this year. The team has endured a difficult period in Test cricket since then, suffering series sweeps against Bangladesh and England.
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Pakistan have also faced off-field uncertainty, with bowling coach Ashley Noffke set to take over as the Netherlands head coach after the Asian Games. However, Hesson defended Pakistan’s white-ball record when questioned about the team’s recent performances.
“The Test team are struggling and we are all well aware of it,” he said.
“But the win percentage of the T20I team in the last 15 months has been third or the fourth best. We have lost to India on multiple occasions and that is the benchmark of all the Pakistani teams, we understand that. But to suggest that the T20 side is at a low [is not correct],” he concluded.
