India romped to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in their high-intensity encounter against Pakistan in the men’s Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai on Sunday.
The match had been coloured from the start by calls from across the border to ‘boycott’ the fixture. It seems the pressure got to the players as well, with the Indian team refusing to shake hands, as is customary, at the toss and after the match.
Then, at the post-match ceremony, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav seemingly ‘politicised’ the victory by bringing up the Pahalgham terrorist attack in India-occupied Kashmir, over which the two countries fought a four-day military conflict in May, saying the victory was “a perfect gift” for his country.
“We stand with the victim’s families of the Pahalgam terror attack, and we express our solidarity, and we want to dedicate today’s win to the armed forces,” the Indian skipper said.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Yadav said: “Our government and the BCCI were aligned. We took a call and came here just to play the game and gave them (Pakistan) a proper reply.”
Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha was not present at the post-match ceremony.
Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson explained that the reason the Pakistani captain was absent from the ceremony was because of the Indian team’s “disappointing” conduct at the end of the match.
“It was a follow-on effect of the fact that we were obviously keen to engage and shake hands at the end of the match, but that obviously didn’t happen,” Hesson said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed to Dawn.com that Pakistan team manager Naveed Akram Cheema, “registered a protest against the Indian team’s inappropriate behaviour.”
“Manager Cheema has also registered a formal protest against the match referee’s behaviour as well for requesting the captains not to shake hands during the toss,” the PCB said.
Earlier, it was a clinical performance by the Men in Blue after the Indian spinners ruled the roost in the first innings and Pakistan stumbled to 127-9 thanks to an excellent cameo by Shaheen Afridi down the order.
The pick of the bowlers for India was Kuldeep Yadav, who ended with figures of 3-19 as the Indian spinners never let the Pakistani batters settle.
Article source: dawn.com
