Pakistan batter Hasan Nawaz has urged the team to move on from its narrow defeat to India in the Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket final, saying the setback should be treated as a learning experience.
Pakistan fell 19 runs short while chasing 212 in the gold-medal clash, despite a brilliant 96-run knock from Nawaz.
His innings was the highest individual score in a T20I between Pakistan and India and earned praise from former Pakistan stars Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf. The performance also helped Nawaz earn a place in Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming three-match home series against Sri Lanka, which begins Friday.
Speaking to the media during Pakistan’s training session at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Nawaz said small mistakes proved costly in the final but stressed that the team must learn from them and look ahead.
“The match was very close, and we made a lot of small mistakes which led to us losing,” Nawaz said.
“When you lose, and if you are stuck in that thing, how will you move forward? So, when you make mistakes, you learn and move forward. We will try not to repeat the mistakes we made there.”
The 24-year-old added that Pakistan would have more opportunities to face India and should not dwell on one result.
“This cricket is not over yet. There will be a match with them again. We will make new mistakes again, and we will try to win the match. So, this is just a part of the game.”
Nawaz said his performance against India, whom he described as the No. 1 team in the world, gave him significant confidence.
“Of course, they are the number one team in the world. Everyone knows that,” he said.
“You get a lot of confidence to perform against them. When I was going to Japan from CPL, I had planned to do something for my country and win a gold medal, but there were small mistakes which led to us losing the match. I got a lot of confidence from performing against them.”
Nawaz also revealed that he believed Pakistan was in a position to win the final while he was at the crease.
“When I went to bat, there were not many runs in the circle. My plan was that I believe in myself. I believed that I could go to the end and take the whole match,” he said.
He added that Pakistan’s chase was going according to plan before a couple of quiet overs in the middle shifted the momentum.
“The plan was going well, but because of the one or two overs in between, we were a little down. But I felt that we could have won.”
The Asian Games final was only Nawaz’s second appearance for Pakistan since being dropped from the national team in November last year.
He revealed that head coach Mike Hesson and the rest of the coaching staff had given him several areas to work on during his time away from the side.
“When I dropped out of the team, Mike and all the coaches gave me a lot of plans, and I worked on that,” Nawaz said.
He also credited domestic cricket for helping him improve, particularly through exposure to difficult pitches and different bowlers.
“The thing about the local ground is that you get tough pitches and you play new and different bowlers,” he said.
“I feel that you should play cricket, and when you come to a good pitch, everything becomes easy.”
The post Pakistan Star Batter Says Cricket Not Over Yet After Asian Games Loss to India appeared first on ProPakistani.