Hesson says India remain the white-ball benchmark but Pakistan can press them at Asian Games

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson said on the sidelines of Pakistan's pre-departure camp in Karachi on September 23, 2026 that India are the benchmark in white-ball cricket but Pakistan can put them under pressure at the Asian Games in Japan. Both sides enter the men's T20 competition directly in the quarter-finals.

The two teams cannot meet before the medal stage, with the men's competition scheduled to begin on September 24 and the medal matches set for October 3. India are the defending champions after winning gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

"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,” he added.

Recent T20I results favour India: they have won the last six T20Is between the sides, including three meetings in the 2025 Asia Cup. A video clip posted by Khel Shel on September 23 showed Hesson responding to those defeats.

Hesson rejected the suggestion that Pakistan's T20I side is in decline while acknowledging problems in the longer format, saying: "The Test team is struggling and we are all well aware of it. 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],” Hesson said.

Pakistan will be led by Sahibzada Farhan in the Asian Games and the 15-member squad includes four players yet to make their T20I debuts — Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat and Saad Masood. Farhan, who scored 383 runs at the 2026 T20 World Cup, is the most experienced batter in the squad and will captain a side that features a significant number of younger players.

Pakistan will face the runners-up from Group B on September 28 while India will take on the second-placed team from Group A on the same day; the rivals can meet only in the gold-medal match or the bronze-medal play-off.