"About time we overwrite our underdog status," says Pranav Prince ahead of FIBA Asia Cup

The Indian men’s basketball team will be looking to rewrite their long-standing underdog status when they take on World no. 35 Jordan in the opening match of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

“We’ve been the underdogs for years now. We are trying to overcome that," said star Indian cager Pranav Prince to The Bridge. "And realistically speaking, we are here to win. We treat each of our three games equally.

"We’ve been preparing for this for almost now. We will try to give everything we can. We are here to work hard and play our best and try to win every game possible,” he added.

The Indian team has featured in 26 of the previous 30 editions of the continental competition. Their best performance came in 1975, when they secured a commendable fourth-place finish in Bangkok.

India faces a tough draw with Jordan (World No. 35), China (World No. 30) and hosts Saudi Arabia (World No. 60). India are the lowest-ranked team at 76.

Speaking about India’s chances in the tournament, Pranav said, “We are here to prove ourselves. It’s not a tougher pool, it’s just we’ve been underdogs. And I think this time we have to overwrite that saying. We belong here.

“Realistically, we have to be in the top four, top five this year, that’s our aim. But the goal is to win; win the whole thing. We are hoping for a good tournament and we have to earn it. We can’t just hope and pray. Nothing is going to come from above. It’s just how we’re going to play and how we’re going to treat ourselves,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Indian men’s basketball team head coach Scott Fleming echoed the same views and emphasized on the team’s growing self-belief.

“We’ve almost always been the underdog – and that’s our challenge,” said Fleming in the interaction felicitated by Fancode.

“But we’ve had some recent success against higher-ranked teams, and that has given us some confidence. We know we’re the lowest-ranked team in our pool, but that’s the great challenge. We’re here to win every game,” he added.

Fleming, who is on his second stint as India’s head coach, stressed on the importance of defensive play.

“Defense is always a key. Defense and rebounding can keep you in a game, even if you’re not shooting it as well,” he noted.

“When I took over this time, I looked at what we can do better than anybody else,” he explained. “We may not be as athletic, or as big and strong, and we don’t have naturalized or foreign players like some other teams. So I asked, ‘what can we do better?’”

The coach also drew comparisons to previous Indian squads he has led, noting a generational shift in the current roster.

“The team I had earlier was more experienced, a little older. This is a much younger team. A lot of these guys I had in high school at the NBA Academy, and now, just a few years later, they’re some of the best players in India.”

Fleming is optimistic about the team’s prospects in the tournament.

“We’re playing to win now. And this team probably shoots it a little better than we had back then.”