Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi declined to directly address Suryakumar Yadav’s assertion that India’s supremacy has rendered India-Pakistan matches no longer a competition, maintaining instead that his team’s primary goal is to win the Asia Cup.
Afridi avoided questions about Suryakumar’s claim during the pre-game press conference on Thursday before their crucial last Super 4 match against Bangladesh in Dubai.
“That’s his view, let him say. When we meet (in the likely Asia Cup final on Sunday), we will see kya hai, kya nahi. Tab dekh lenge. We are here to win the Asia Cup and we will give our best effort for that,” Afridi said.
According to Suryakumar, a rivalry cannot be deemed authentic if the difference in outcomes is 12-3, which is the current situation of the India-Pakistan T201 head-to-head matches.
In the current competition, the two sides have faced off twice, with India winning both games handily.
However, the Indian team’s refusal to shake hands before and after the games in solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror assault, which was carried out by terrorists supported by Pakistan, has escalated tensions between the two sides.
The matches have been overshadowed by aggressive gestures from Pakistani players towards both fans and opponents. Afridi was asked whether this aggression was orchestrated by players like Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan.
Farhan’s aggressive gun-firing celebration during their Super 4 game on Sunday also caused a stir, even though Rauf appeared to be making fun of Indian fans.
“There is no specific plan to be aggressive, we have always been aggressive, from the time we started playing. This is how cricket is played and the team morale is kept high,” he said.
When asked whether the team is even talking about the potential Indo-Pak matchup in the championship game, he said, “We are not in the final yet, when we reach, we will think about it.”
When quizzed about “what’s been going on” between the two teams, Afridi first responded with a cheeky, “Kya chal raha hai?”
When asked directly about Rauf and Farhan, Afridi once again avoided the subject.
“Our job is to play cricket, people can think what they want. We are here to win Asia Cup. We are trying our best to fulfil Pakistan’s hopes,” he said.
