Suryakumar Yadav Shreds Haris Rauf And Mohsin Naqvi: ‘We Wanted To Play With Dignity, They…’ | Cricket News

While India remained firmly focused on the job of winning Asia Cup in UAE, Pakistan repeatedly indulged in unsavoury tactics to get a rise out of the Suryakumar Yadav-led squad. Amid the constant provocations, India players, despite the charged-up atmosphere, kept their emotions in check, giving fitting response on the field en route to a memorable win in the title clash on Sunday night.

Skipper Suryakumar has said India wanted to play the “game with dignity” and he instructed his players to keep their emotions aside and concentrate on giving their all on the field without worrying about the consequences.

“I think there has to be a difference between the two sides,” Suryakumar told NDTV. “We never made any gesture, no hand movements. We wanted to play the game with dignity. They wanted to make a statement outside.”

“The result can go in any team’s favour. But when you come back, you should be happy with the effort you gave, the game you played. From outside, people think a lot happens, but I told the players, ‘Let’s keep the emotions aside and play a good game. Whatever comes at the end, we’ll take it’,” he added.

Over the course of the tournament, Pakistan tried getting Suryakumar punished for snubbing their players during customary handshakes, approached the ICC to have the match referee removed, their players made offensive gestures and attempted to engage India batters in verbal duels. All this when it was clear as day that Indian team didn’t want any sort of interaction with their neighbours except to play the game.

India defeated Pakistan in the final on Sunday to win the Asia Cup for a record-extending 9th time. It was also the third time that India had gotten the better of their arch-rivals in the tournament.

However, controversy erupted after PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi insisted on handing over the trophy to despite India refusing to accept the award from him. Eventually, the team celebrated without the silverware and medals as Naqvi stormed out of the venue with the awards meant for India stars.