islamabad
\nPakistan head coach Mike Hesson admitted Wednesday that his team has some catching up to do if they are to challenge arch-rivals India at the Asian Games.
\nIndia\u2019s men have won back-to-back World Cups and are also defending champions at the Asian Games.
\nSince Hesson took over in May last year Pakistan lost to India three times in the Asia Cup 2025 and once in this year\u2019s Twenty20 World Cup.
\n\u201cIndia are the benchmark in terms of white ball cricket at the moment and our challenge is to catch up to that,\u201d said Hesson in Karachi ahead of the team\u2019s departure.
\nThe men\u2019s cricket at the Asian Games in Japan starts on Thursday.
\nPakistan and India have never met at the Games but are likely to face off in the semi-finals on October 1 in Nagoya.
\n\u201cWe are certainly preparing as best we can and if we get an opportunity to play (India) we will certainly put them under pressure like we did in the final of the Asia Cup,\u201d Hesson said of last year\u2019s final in Dubai.
\nPakistan will first meet the winners of Pool B \u2014 comprising Hong Kong, Oman and Malaysia \u2014 in the quarter-final on September 28.
\nHesson said Pakistan need to start well. \u201cThere is a lot of cricket to be played between now and being able to play in the semi-final for both sides (Pakistan and India), so we are not getting too far ahead of ourselves,\u201d Hesson said.
\nPakistan have never won a medal in the Asian Games cricket, losing the bronze medal match in 2010 and 2023 while they did not compete in 2014.
\nWhile India has sent a full-strength team for the Asian Games, Pakistan\u2019s side is a combination of youth and experience, captained by opener Sahibzada Farhan.
\n\u2018Asian Games offer Farhan chance to gain captaincy experience\u2019
\nHesson believes the upcoming Asian Games will give Sahibzada Farhan a chance to strengthen his leadership credentials.
\nHesson said the players had been given extensive practice to prepare them for different pitches and playing conditions during the tournament.
\n\u201cThe players have been given extensive practice over the past three days to prepare them for different pitches and conditions,\u201d Hesson said during a media talk in Karachi.
\nThe head coach also clarified that fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani was not included in the 30-member preliminary squad selected five months ago for the Asian Games, with the current squad chosen from the same list in accordance with Olympic regulations.
\nHesson believes the Asian Games will also give emerging players an important opportunity to showcase their talent.
\n\u201cThe Asian Games provide an excellent platform for new and talented players to showcase their abilities,\u201d he said.
\nHe specifically highlighted Farhan\u2019s leadership role, saying the tournament would be an important learning experience for the Pakistan opener.
\n\u201cFor Sahibzada Farhan, the Asian Games are an excellent opportunity to gain captaincy experience,\u201d Hesson said.
\nHowever, Hesson made it clear that Farhan\u2019s role at the Asian Games would not determine Pakistan\u2019s long-term captaincy plans.
\n\u201cThe decision regarding future captaincy will be taken by the selection committee and the PCB chairman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
islamabad Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson admitted Wednesday that his team has some catching up to do if they are to challenge arch-rivals India at the Asian Games. India\u2019s men have won back-to-back World Cups and are also defending champions at the Asian Games. Since Hesson took over in May last year Pakistan lost to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103396,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103376\/revisions\/103396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}