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Suryakumar Yadav cleverly ghosts Pakistan ahead of Asia Cup final against Pakistan: ‘Let us not think…’
Suryakumar Yadav refrained from mentioning Pakistan but he made his thoughts pretty clear on the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 final.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav played down the contest against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 final at the Dubai International Stadium, saying his focus remains on the individual recoveries of his players after the side played out a gruelling and thrilling Super 4s match against Sri Lanka on Friday. India edged out Sri Lanka in an edge-of-the-seat contest; however, the game saw Hardik Pandya and Abhishek Sharma suffering cramps.
Hardik and Abhishek went back to the dressing room to recover from their injuries, and bowling coach Morne Morkel has already stated that the team will not be training on Saturday, a day before the final of the eight-team tournament.
India and Pakistan have met on two occasions in the ongoing edition, and Suryakumar Yadav's side came out on top in both games. The contest on Sunday is once again expected to see tempers flaring between the two teams after what happened earlier.
However, the India captain played the chatter down, saying his team would follow the process and there would be no special preparation just because Pakistan is the opponent in the summit clash.
Also Read: Team India breaks silence on injuries to Hardik Pandya and Abhishek Sharma
“Let's have a good recovery tonight. Let us not think about that (the final) right now. A few boys had a lot of cramps today. Have a good recovery day tomorrow, and we will turn up the same way we did today,” Suryakumar said at the post-match presentation.
The Super 4s match between India and Pakistan saw a lot of tension between the two teams. Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi exchanged quite a few words with Abhishek and Shubman Gill; however, the Indian duo also didn't hold back.
Haris and Sahibzada Farhan also made distasteful gestures as the former constantly mocked the Indian crowd by making 6-0 signals, referencing Pakistan's claims of bringing down Indian fighter jets during Operation Sindoor. While the latter brought out a gun celebration after registering a fifty.
ICC imposes sanctions
On Friday, the ICC match referee, Richie Richardson, completed an official hearing with Haris and Farhan regarding their actions in the game against India in the Super 4s. Following the BCCI complaint, Richardson held a hearing where Farhan and Rauf were asked to explain their actions.
According to news agency PTI, Farhan was left off with a warning, but Rauf was fined 30 per cent of his match fees. On the other hand, Suryakumar was also fined 30 per cent because of his comments in the group stage match against the neighbours.
After the win on September 14, Suryakumar had dedicated the victory to the Indian Armed Forces, saying his team stood in solidarity with the Pahalgam terror attack victims.
Speaking of the contest between India and Pakistan, the latter is yet to register a victory against the opponent since October 2022. India have won the last seven matches against Pakistan and the former are the overwhelming favourites heading into the summit clash of the Asia Cup.
