‘They are the best team by a mile’: Pakistan coach says India are obsessed with judging their team

Hardik Pandya, right, celebrates with teammate Ishan Kishan after the wicket of Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, center, during the T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) Pakistan men’s head coach Mike Hesson has questioned the way his team is judged mainly on results against India, saying no team in world cricket has found a consistent answer to the current Indian side.Speaking to Cricinfo, Hesson said that Pakistan’s progress should not be measured only by matches against India.The former New Zealand coach, who has taken charge of Pakistan’s white-ball teams in 2025, acknowledged India’s current position at the top of world cricket and said Pakistan were not the only side fighting against them.The two teams have not played a bilateral series for more than a decade due to political reasons. They now only meet in multi-nation tournaments, with India dominating the rivalry since 2022, including three wins over Pakistan in the 2025 Asia Cup and 61 runs in the 2026 T20 World Cup.“For example, in the Asia Cup last year, we won every game except India,” Hesson told Cricinfo. “The reality is that every team in the world is trying to beat India at the moment. Every team, not just Pakistan.”Hesson said Pakistan’s performances against other teams often go unnoticed because of the focus on India.

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Share an opinion“Rightly or wrongly, Pakistan are judged by how they perform against India. And at the moment, India is not only the best team, it is the best team by a mile,” he said. “In the T20 World Cup, we lost to England in the Super 8 on Harry Brook’s hundred and apart from that it was a very tight game. We won every (other) match except India,” he said.The Pakistan coach also pointed to the team’s improvement over the past year and said the results show they are moving in the right direction.“We didn’t get out of the pool at ICC events between 2023 and 2025. So you can’t go from eighth in the world all of a sudden to being competitive unless you start winning more regular cricket matches. And it’s important for us to go from winning 20-odd per cent to almost three-quarters of our games a year.”