Pakistan men’s team head coach Mike Hesson has questioned his team’s perception especially after the result against India, saying that no international cricket team has found a permanent 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 was in charge of Pakistan’s white-ball teams in 2025, acknowledged India’s position at the top of world cricket and said Pakistan is not the only team fighting against them.The two teams have not played each other for more than a decade due to political reasons. They now only meet in international tournaments, where India have dominated the tournament since 2022, including three wins over Pakistan in the 2025 Asia Cup and a 61-run victory in the 2026 T20 World Cup.“In the Asia Cup last year, for example, we won every match except India,” Hesson told Cricinfo. “The reality is that every team in the world is struggling to beat India at the moment. Every team, not just Pakistan.”Hesson said Pakistan’s performance against other teams is often overlooked due to the focus on India.“Rightly or wrongly, Pakistan is judged by how they perform against India. And right now, India is not the best team; they are the best team by a mile,” he said. “In the T20 World Cup, we lost to England in the Super 8 on the back of Harry Brook’s hundred and a very tough game. [other] sports other than India,” he said.The coach of the Pakistan team has also spoken about the success of the team in the past year, saying that the results show that it is going well.“From 2023-2025, we didn’t get out of the pool in the ICC events. So you can’t go from eighth in the world to a sudden championship unless you start winning a lot of cricket matches. And for us to go from winning 20-odd to almost three-thirds of our games a year is important.”
