After Suryakumar Yadav said that India vs Pakistan can’t be a considered a rivalry anymore due to the recent lopsided results in favour of the Men in Blue, express pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi on Wednesday said that it was the India captain’s view and if they meet again, most likely in the Asia Cup final, then he’ll think about the comments.
“That’s his view, let him say. When we meet (in the likely Asia Cup final on Sunday), we will see kya hai, kya nahi. Tab dekh lenge. We are here to win the Asia Cup and we will give our best effort for that,” Afridi said in the pre-match press conference ahead of their Super 4 encounter with Bangladesh.
Suryakumar had stated that for a rivalry to be considered genuine, the gulf in results cannot be 12-3, which is where the India-Pakistan T20I head-to-head currently stands. The two teams have played each other twice in the ongoing tournament and India have emerged comprehensive victors both times.
“According to me, if two teams have to play 15-20 matches, and if there’s a 7-all or someone is ahead 8-7, then it’s called playing good cricket and it’s called rivalry. 13-0, 10-1, I don’t know what the stats are. But this is not a rivalry anymore.,” Surya had said on Sunday.
India and Pakistan matches in the Asia Cup have been far from the thrilling encounters that the two countries used to offer up in the past with all the major drama circling around non-cricketing reasons. The two countries are likely to meet again in the final if India keep up their dominant run and Pakistan can defeat Bangladesh on Thursday.
India have already defeated Pakistan in the Super 4s and will next take on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Pakistan bounced back from the India defeat in style, putting down Sri Lanka.
Asked if the team is even discussing the possible Indo-Pak match-up in the final, Shaheen said, “We are not in the final yet, when we reach, we will think about it.”
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