Hardik Pandya, right, celebrates the wicket of Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan with teammate Ishan Kishan during the T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday, February 15, 2026. (AP photo)

Pakistan men’s team head coach Mike Hesson has questioned the way his team is judged based on their results against India and said no team in world cricket has found a consistent answer to the current Indian team.Speaking to Cricinfo, Hesson said that Pakistan’s progress should not be measured only by matches against India. The former New Zealand coach, who takes charge of Pakistan’s white-ball teams in 2025, acknowledged India’s current position at the top in world cricket and said Pakistan is not the only team to struggle against them.The two teams have not played a bilateral series for over a decade due to political reasons. They now meet only in multi-nation tournaments, where India have dominated the rivalry since 2022, including three wins over Pakistan in the 2025 Asia Cup and a 61-run win in the 2026 T20 World Cup.“For example, last year in the Asia Cup we won all the matches except India,” Hesson told Cricinfo. “The reality is that every single team in the world is struggling to beat India at the moment. Every team, not just Pakistan.”Hesson said that due to the focus on India, Pakistan’s performance against other teams is often ignored.He said, “Rightly or wrongly, Pakistan are judged by how they perform against India. And at the moment, India are not only the best team; they are the best team by a mile.” “In the T20 World Cup, we lost to England in the Super 8 because of Harry Brook’s century and a very tough game outside of that. We won every match [other] The game except India,” he said.The Pakistan coach pointed to the team’s improvement over the past year and said the results show they are moving in the right direction.“Till 2023-2025, we won’t be able to get out of the pool in ICC events. So unless you start winning more regular games of cricket, you can’t suddenly go from eighth in the world to being competitive. And it’s important for us to win about 20 per cent to three-quarters of our games in a year.”