Ryan van Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, is really proud of a young team that remained composed during the Asia Cup Super 4s match last Sunday, even when Pakistani players engaged in contentious, extravagant celebrations and used offensive language.
Abhishek Sharma’s 39-ball 74 helped India defeat Pakistan by six wickets with ease, but the match provoked a heated debate as Pakistani opener Sahibzada Farhan celebrated with a gunshot.
The Pakistani tale of taking down Indian fighter jets during “Operation Sindoor” is said to have been indicated later by pacer Haris Rauf’s motions of a plane crashing down.
When asked about the dramatic moments, Ten Doeschate was full of appreciation for the maturity displayed by Tilak Varma, Abhishek, and Shubman Gill in ending the game without getting caught up in their antics.
“Look, they had a very good start. I don’t think they got carried away with it,” Ten Doeschate said about the celebrations of Farhan.
“I will say given the situation you can see why guys are behaving and what they’re trying to portray but we were very focused on how we wanted to behave. I think we stuck to the cricket really well,” the former Dutch international said on Tuesday ahead of the Bangladesh game.
“It would have been easy to lose our minds at that point given the celebration as well and some of the words during the game from the Pakistan bowling unit. I thought the guys stuck really well to the task of getting the job done and winning the game.”
Doeschate did, however, also provide context for the reasons behind Rauf’s contentious actions.
“Let me first say, the amount of pressure that’s been heaped on the players because of the situation, it’s very difficult to control their behaviour.
“I did see some of the things Haris did and that’s not our concern. Like I said earlier, we’re really proud of how our guys carried themselves,” he said.
In a deceptive way, Ten Doeschate also suggested that these consequences might have resulted from India’s “No Handshake Policy” with the Pakistani squad following the Pahalgam assaults.
“They fought fire with their bats on the field. I’m sure other teams have issues with some of the things we’ve done but from our side, we’re delighted with how our guys have carried themselves in this tournament,” he added.
