ISLAMABAD: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said this week that he does not have a problem if his fast bowlers show aggression to the Indian cricket team as long as things don’t go too far, as the two arch-rivals prepare to square off in the high-octane Asia Cup final today, Sunday.
The last Asia Cup encounter between India and Pakistan on Sept. 21 saw heated exchanges between players from both sides. Indian cricketers Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma were seen engaging in on-field spats with Pakistani pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
Both teams have qualified for the final of the Asia Cup tournament to be played in Dubai on Sunday. The recent cricket matches took place this month after Indian and Pakistani militaries fought against each other in a brief conflict in May, killing over 70 people on both sides.
“If someone wants to be aggressive on the ground, then why not,” Agha said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday. “If you deprive a fast bowler of their aggression, then what’s left? Every player knows how to deal with their emotions.”
Agha said he gives players the license to react the way they want to on the ground.
“As long as they’re not disrespecting anyone and stay within the line, I have no issues with that,” he said.
Tensions are expected to flare between the two sides on Sunday after Pakistan players Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan were pulled up for breaches of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct earlier this week. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav was similarly penalized for comments he made following the group game between the two teams on Sept. 14.
India have also refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts, either before or after the game, reflecting the state of affairs between the two countries.
Agha said he has been a professional cricketer since 2007 and has never seen any two teams not shake each other’s hands after a cricket contest.
“When India-Pakistan games took place in even more tense situations, handshakes always happened,” he said. “Not to have handshakes is not good for cricket.”
The match between the two sides is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 pm.
PLAYING XI [PROBABLE]
India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Saim Ayub, 4 Hussain Talat, 5 Mohammad Nawaz, 6 Salman Agha (capt), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Mohammad Haris (wk), 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed
