While Suryakumar Yadav’s nationalistic posturing went viral, Kuldeep Yadav’s mature approach to India’s Asia Cup victory went unnoticed.
Following the group stage match, the players from India and Pakistan did not shake hands at the start of the 2025 Asia Cup. Then, expressing his team’s solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror incident, Suryakumar dedicated the victory to the Indian armed forces.
Following their victory in the Asia Cup final, India under Suryakumar declined to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council head Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s interior minister and chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
A day later, SKY called Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post on X “Front Foot pe batting” and commended him for his backing.
During all this commotion, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep was one of the Indian team’s players who spoke to various media outlets after returning from the United Arab Emirates.
Talking to NDTV, India’s record-breaking bowler in the tournament Kuldeep complimented his teammates for their contributions to the victory and explained India’s Asia Cup victory as follows: ”It feels very good when we perform for the team. There’s nothing bigger in this world than contributing to the team’s victory.”
”It was a good tournament for me. Everyone saw how Abhishek Sharma also performed, and even Tilak played a brilliant knock, like he did in the IPL. However, there are certain things that often go unnoticed like Axar Patel’s role with the ball, Sanju Samson’s partnership with Tilak, and two important wickets taken by Varun Chakaravarthy,” said Kuldeep.
”So, we can say that it was a team effort that helped us clinch the Asia Cup title,” Kuldeep added.
Kuldeep then rightly acknowledged Pakistan’s effort in the final.
”It always feels good when you defeat a good team. We cannot deny the fact that they also played brilliantly. We were three down for just 20 runs, and they had a terrific start with the bat. But we must appreciate the comeback made by our team. All the players contributed equally to the win,” Kuldeep added.
