India’s Suryakumar Yadav in the course of the heat up earlier than the match in opposition to United Arab Emirates at Dubai Worldwide Cricket Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 10, 2025. — Reuters
India’s gamers want to dam out the noise as they put together to once more face rivals Pakistan within the Asia Cup amid controversy over their earlier conflict, skipper Suryakumar Yadav stated on Saturday.
The eight-team match has been dominated by headlines about Pakistan and India’s first conferences on the pitch because the navy battle between the nuclear-armed neighbours in Might this yr.
India prevailed within the politically-charged Group A match final week however their gamers refused to shake fingers with their Pakistan opponents after the match.
Suryakumar devoted India’s seven-wicket victory to their armed forces, whereas a number of of his teammates took to social media to specific comparable ideas.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) referred to as for match referee Andy Pycroft’s speedy elimination for a code of conduct violation and regarded withdrawing from the match earlier than going forward with UAE match after referee tendered apologies.
Naqvi, flanked by former chairmen Ramiz Raja and Najam Sethi, instructed reporters at Gaddafi Stadium that Zimbabwe-based match referee Andy Pycroft had formally apologised to nationwide captain Salman Ali Agha, the coach and the group supervisor, acknowledging the issues raised by the facet.
With the controversy more likely to rumble on within the build-up to Sunday’s conflict, Suryakumar supplied some blunt recommendation for teammates struggling to deal with exterior strain.
“Close your room, switch off your phone and sleep. I think that’s the best. It’s easy to say, but sometimes it is difficult,” he instructed reporters. “It’s on you, what you want to listen to, what you want to have in your mind.
“I’ve been very clear with all of the boys. I believe it is crucial if you wish to do effectively on this match and going ahead. We should shut quite a lot of noise from exterior and take what is nice for you.”
Despite India’s triumph in their previous encounter, Suryakumar insisted past results would count for nothing when the rivals meet again in the Super Four match.
“I really feel our preparation has been actually good main into the match. We’ve got additionally had three good video games, so we are literally specializing in what we will do finest,” he added.
“We need to observe all the nice habits that we have now been doing from the final two or three video games. We take it one sport at a time. It does not give us an edge that we have now performed them as soon as, and we had an excellent sport. We’ve got to start out from scratch.”
When asked about the historic rivalry — which was much more intense in 2000s, he said, “At the moment, I don’t know. I’ve by no means performed. So I can’t say,” he laughed.
“If we talk about rivalry, I don’t know what kind of rivalry you are talking about. After going on the ground, I feel that the stadium is full. And when the stadium is full, I tell my team and everyone that it is time for entertainment. So many people have come to watch the match, so you have to entertain everyone. Let’s play some good brand of cricket. And according to me, we don’t think much,” he added.
One other query requested Suryakumar concerning the ‘other things’ India did in opposition to Pakistan, with out explicitly mentioning the handshakes, and he merely stated: ‘By other things, you mean we bowled well, isn’t it?’
