New Delhi [India], September 20 (ANI): Ahead of the India’s clash against Pakistan in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup, former Indian cricketer Atul Wassan urged the Pakistan team to showcase their anger and some competition on the field rather than being in controversies off the field, pointing out that the Men in Green “humiliated themselves” by going after match-referee Andy Pycroft for no fault of his in the ‘handshake row’ between both the sides.
The India-Pakistan clash on Sunday will be a massive one, as this is the Super Four stage clash where every win against Asia’s best teams would count. The first match was a controversial one. The ending of the match saw Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube walk off the field without shaking hands with Pakistani players and the captain dedicating the win to Indian Armed Forces and expressing solidarity with Pahalgam terror attack victims.
Pakistan skipper Salman Agha did not attend the post-match presentation, and coach Mike Hesson was sent to face the press. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later filed a complaint against Pycroft, alleging him of ‘violation of ICC Code of Conduct’ and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) laws related to the spirit of cricket.
Ahead of their next clash against the UAE, Pakistan cancelled their pre-match presser. On the day of the match, the team locked themselves inside the hotel, with PCB threatening to pull out of the tournament if Pycroft was not removed from the tournament. The match was delayed for an hour and, after a meeting between Pycroft and the Pakistan team’s leadership group, the match went ahead, and Pakistan won to march to the Super Four stage. Notably, ahead of this India clash too, Pakistan cancelled its pre-match presser.
Notably, it emerged later, as per ESPNCricinfo, that Pycroft was made aware of the ‘no handshake’ between both captains just ‘four minutes ahead of the toss’ by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) venue manager, and he was barely a messenger and not the one behind the instruction. Also, soon after Pycroft’s meeting with the Pakistan party, PCB released a statement claiming an apology came from the match referee. ICC is believed to be unhappy with it, and the idea of a response “clarifying” the situation was discussed, though it is still uncertain if it would be made. PCB also released a short video of the meeting despite concerns raised during it that a video would be recorded. The video was allowed to be posted without an audio.
Ahead of the match, Wassan told ANI, “More than cricket, the talk about off the field stuff has taken place. It was bound to happen since a India vs Pakistan match is not just a match. But that time has gone when India used to make a “haua” (hype) out of Pakistan because we have progressed much ahead, are financially sound and ruling the sport. Our team is playing well, and our ecosystem is good. So we are happy with ourselves.
“But I think, Pakistan still has that “haua” because they think if they lose, there would be a big issue. But in India, people have matured a lot, and for them, it is just a game. But in the current scenario, this is a touchy topic. We all had a big discussion on if the match should happen and now it has happened, we showed our anger. And the way they (PCB) reacted, I had fun watching it because ‘khisiyani billi khamba noche’. They have humiliated themselves.
“I would admit one thing, you did not shake hands, it is right. You want to play or not, the country is with you. But whatever a system it is, it takes time to make one thing, and it takes a minute to spoil it. So our leaders are sensible, they thought that this is a point of pain, so let us go with it. You cannot ignore them in multinational tournaments; we have to meet them diplomatically. We will not keep a relationship with them; we will ignore them. But where we should have our presence, they will also be there, why would we move away from there.”
“I think the statement given by Suryakumar Yadav in the press conference was a bit wrong. I have read the ICC’s statement, in clause 2.012 it is written that you cannot politicise on this platform. So that is a bit wrong. You could have said that we did it because we are not happy with them, and we were just here to play for the country. We did not do it because we did not feel like doing it, and no one can get that respect forcefully.”
“But they (PCB) said, shoot the messenger, forget the message. It was not going to happen (removal of Pycroft). If the ICC had listened to them, then another big problem would have arisen, under what pretext did you get blackmailed and take action against the match referee? Because it was not his fault, he only did sent a message,” he added.
Wassan said that had the Indian skipper not spoken about the Pahalgam terror attacks during the presser, Team India would have been on a “higher moral ground”.
“That (Suryakumar speaking about Pahalgam victims) is the only reason they (Pakistan) could have registered a complaint. And the ICC would have investigated it later. But they got angry and sat inside the hotel. But they did not understand what the loss would be? Then, they must have taken out their calculator and calculated everything and realised that this is wrong, let us go out and play. This is how they are getting insulted again and again. You take a decision, you stand on it. But they got scared and came back to play. Pycroft did not apologise, still they say he apologised,” he added.
Speaking on the match, Wassan said Pakistan should “give a little competitition”.
“Because I am also not enjoying it. If they do well, there could be a contest. But if we keep hitting one-sided, it would be better to play Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. Show your anger on the field, walk the talk, that would be fun. Then I will respect. It would be better if they show their anger on the field,” he added.
Squads:
India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy
Pakistan Squad: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Haris(w), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha(c), Khushdil Shah, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Salman Mirza, Sufiyan Muqeem. (ANI)
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