“Best Team”: Mike Hesson’s candid comment on Indian Cricket Team unlikely to sit well with Pakistan

Pakistan’s white-ball coach Mike Hesson called the Indian Cricket Team ‘the best team by a country mile’ during a recent chat with ESPN Cricinfo. The 51-year-old’s recent statements are likely to ruffle some feathers in the Pakistan Cricket Board. Both sides played each other earlier this year in the T20 World Cup, which India won by 61 runs.

Hesson was heard saying, “In the Asia Cup 2025 tournament, for example, we managed to beat every side barring India. Reality is every single side is struggling to win against the Indian side at this point, not just Pakistan.” Suryakumar Yadav’s side managed to win each game in the aforementioned tournament, including the final.

The New Zealand-born coach also said, “Pakistan is always judged by how they perform against India. At this moment, they (India) are the best team by a country mile. Even during the T20 World Cup, we lost a tight match against England due to a century from Harry Brook, but managed to win every other game barring the big one.”

Salman Ali Agha’s side began the campaign with a close win over the Netherlands, followed by a loss to their arch-rivals. In their next two games, Men in Green beat the USA and Namibia to make it to the Super 8 stages.

Former World Champions saw their game against the Kiwis get washed out due to rain, followed by the loss to England. Their tournament ended when they failed to beat co-hosts Sri Lanka by a huge margin that saw their hopes of making the final four dashed.

Pakistan coach hopes for continued success

In his chat with ESPN Cricinfo, Hesson went on to say, “From 2023 to 2025, we didn’t manage to make it out of the group stages in any of the global tournaments. So one cannot expect the team to suddenly compete at the top level if they aren’t winning matches regularly. Our performances have shown that the improvements we have made are significant.”

Men in Green will be heading to the West Indies next, where they play two Tests, followed by a three-Test tour of England in August. Their next white-ball assignment is against Harry Brook’s side at home, which is slated to take place in October this year.