Pakistan men's head coach Mike Hesson on Thursday, 24 September described India as the gold standard in white-ball cricket, acknowledging that bridging the gap between the two sides is his team's foremost challenge at the Asian Games men's T20 event in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. His remarks came as both nations geared up for quarterfinal appearances at the Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin, where the multi-sport event officially got under way on the same day.

India and Pakistan: Drawn Apart, But a Final Looms

India, the reigning two-time ICC Men's T20 World Cup champions, have been directly seeded into the quarterfinals alongside Pakistan. Crucially, the two rivals find themselves in opposite halves of the draw, meaning any meeting can only occur from the semifinals onward. Pakistan's quarterfinal opponent was yet to be confirmed at the time of Hesson's remarks.

'India are the benchmark in terms of white-ball cricket at the moment, and our challenge is to catch up to that,' Hesson said. He added that if Pakistan do earn a shot at facing India, they would make their presence felt — pointing to the Asia Cup final as evidence. 'We will certainly put them under pressure as we were able to do in the final of the Asia Cup,' he noted, while also tempering expectations: '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.'

Pakistan's T20 Trajectory Under Hesson

Hesson offered a candid assessment of Pakistan's progress since he took charge. The team was ranked eighth in T20 cricket when he came in; they have since climbed to fifth or sixth, gaining roughly 30 ranking points through series wins across multiple venues — including Pakistan, Dubai, and the United States. 'We have won a lot of series over the last 15 months in T20 cricket,' he said, arguing it was unfair to conflate T20 form with the side's struggles in other formats.

Honest on the Gaps in Test and ODI Cricket

Pakistan's last T20 international was at the 2026 T20 World Cup, where a five-run victory over Sri Lanka was not enough to carry them into the semifinals. Hesson was equally frank about limitations beyond the shortest format. 'We are struggling in Test cricket and in ODI cricket we are developing heading into the World Cup,' he acknowledged. He added, however, that Pakistan's ODI performances had improved over the previous 12 months, even if the side was 'by no means a finished product.'

What to Watch at the Asian Games T20 Event

This is the Asian Games T20 event in Japan — a relatively rare multi-sport cricket setting — which adds context and stakes beyond a standalone bilateral series. For Pakistan, a deep run at the tournament would serve as meaningful momentum-building ahead of the next ODI World Cup cycle. For India, a dominant campaign would reinforce their standing as the format's dominant force. The possibility of an India–Pakistan final, while still hypothetical, has already captured the imagination of fans across the subcontinent.