Pakistan Coach Wahab Riaz Calls His Team ‘Best’ Despite Crushing Loss to India

Pakistan suffered a humiliating defeat against India in their Women’s Asia Cup 2026 match yesterday. However, comments made by Pakistan women’s team coach Wahab Riaz after the loss left the cricketing fraternity surprised. Despite being comprehensively beaten by Team India, Riaz remained confident that Pakistan are the best team in the tournament.

Batting first, Pakistan collapsed for just 55 runs in 18.1 overs against India’s bowling attack. Apart from openers Muneeba Ali and Shawaal Zulfiqar, none of the Pakistani batters managed to reach double figures. For India, Sri Charani claimed three wickets, while Deepti Sharma and Prema Rawat took two wickets each to dismantle Pakistan’s batting line-up. India then chased down the modest target of 56 in just 8.4 overs, losing three wickets in the process.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Wahab Riaz said, “All the players in our team are very talented. They need to believe in themselves. We will discuss the mistakes we made against India and make sure we do not repeat them. I still believe Pakistan are the best team to win the Asia Cup because the conditions here suit us very well.”Riaz also revealed that there were significant differences between him and captain Sana Mir over the composition of the squad. Mir had expressed strong dissatisfaction after as many as seven players were dropped from the squad for the Asia Cup.

Responding to the captain’s comments, Riaz said, “That is Sana Mir’s personal opinion. It has nothing to do with me. We made these changes keeping the future in mind. The girls who played in the past have participated in several World Cups and Asia Cups, but the results did not come. So, it was time to give new faces an opportunity and build a team for the upcoming tournaments.”He strongly defended the decision to drop the players, arguing that they had failed to perform and that giving opportunities to new players was the right move.Following the defeat, Pakistan are now in a difficult position. To keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive, they must beat Hong Kong in their next match.