ISLAMABAD: Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson on Wednesday said his side was preparing “as best we can” for a possible clash with India at the Asian Games, while stressing that there was plenty of cricket to be played before the two teams could meet.
India and Pakistan are placed on opposite sides of the men’s Asian Games draw and cannot face each other in the semi-finals. The two sides can meet either in the gold-medal match or the bronze-medal play-off on Oct 3, provided they successfully negotiate the earlier stages.
“India are the benchmark in white-ball cricket at the moment, and our challenge is to catch up to that,” Hesson told reporters on the sidelines of Pakistan’s pre-departure training camp at the National Bank Stadium.
“If we get an opportunity to play them, we can certainly put them under pressure, like we were able to in the final of the Asia Cup.”
Hesson, however, said neither side could afford to look too far ahead.
“There’s a lot of cricket to be played between now and being able to play in a final for both sides. So we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
The Pakistan coach said the Asian Games squad was a combination of players from Pakistan Shaheens and the national side, making the tournament an opportunity to assess some new players.
“They certainly won’t be the same squad from a selection point of view,” he said.
Hesson also played down suggestions that Sahibzada Farhan’s appointment as Pakistan captain for the Asian Games necessarily pointed to a longer-term leadership role.
He said the tournament was a “good opportunity” for Farhan to gain experience, but whether he continued in the role would be decided by the selection committee and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
“That’s a discussion for down the line. But at the moment, I’m really looking forward to working with Sahibzada Farhan. I’ve enjoyed the last three days,” he said.
Asked about Pakistan’s performances across formats, Hesson urged against grouping the Test, ODI and T20 sides together, saying the T20 team’s record over the past 15 months did not justify describing Pakistan cricket as being in decline across the board.
“From a T20 perspective, the performance of the T20 side over the last 15 months has been around about the third- or fourth-best team in the world, in terms of win percentage,” he said.
Pakistan, he pointed out, had risen from eighth to fifth in the T20 rankings since he took charge and had gained 30 ranking points over the past 15 months.
“We’ve only done that by winning series, not just in Pakistan but series in Dubai, etc., series in America, whatever. So we’ve won a lot of series over the last 15 months in T20 cricket,” he said.
Hesson acknowledged that Pakistan’s repeated defeats against India remained significant for supporters, calling India the “benchmark for all Pakistani cricket fans”. However, he said those results should not overshadow the T20 side’s broader progress.
He said the Test side was currently struggling, while the ODI team was still developing ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“One-day cricket, we’re developing heading up to a World Cup, and we’ve certainly improved our performance in the last 12 months, but we’re by no means a finished product,” he said.
Hesson also referred to Pakistan’s progress in recent major tournaments, saying the team had reached the Asia Cup final after a period in which it had failed to progress beyond the early stages.
“Up until the Asia Cup, a year and a half ago, Pakistan had not made it past the first round for three major events, had not even made it to the quarter-finals,” he said.
“In the Asia Cup we won every game except India. We made the final. We lost to India. They were better than us.”
At the T20 World Cup, Pakistan reached the Super Eight stage before losing to England, who subsequently reached the final.
“We lost to England by about two balls,” Hesson said.
Pakistan also had a washed-out match against New Zealand, he pointed out.
“We can’t do anything about the rain. Outside of that, we won every game.”
Hesson said expectations from Pakistan cricket should remain high, but cautioned that rebuilding would take time.
“Our expectations for Pakistan should be very high. But we also can’t go from not even making the top eight to expecting to win every game. There is a bit of a process that we need to take to do that,” he said.
Pakistan will enter the Asian Games men’s cricket competition at the quarter-final stage, with their first match scheduled for Monday, Sept 28. The preliminary round begins on Thursday, with Afghanistan taking on Japan in the opening match.
