Please don’t call Indo-Pak matches a rivalry: Suryakumar Yadav

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav has urged everyone to stop calling the contests against Pakistan a meaningful “rivalry” given how his team has dominated the arch-foes, the most recent demolition act being the six-wicket triumph in a Super 4 match of the ongoing Asia Cup here.

India and Pakistan have faced each other 15 times in T20 Internationals, with the reigning world champions winning 12 of those encounters.

After the comprehensive win on Sunday night here, the proverbial question on the gulf between the two teams was thrown at Suryakumar by a senior Pakistani journalist.

“Sir, my request is that we should now stop calling India vs Pakistan matches a rivalry,” Suryakumar responded with a smile.

When the scribe clarified that he was referring to “standards, and not the rivalry”, the Indian skipper said it hardly makes things any different.

“Sir, rivalry and standard are all the same. Now what is a rivalry? If two teams have played 15 matches and it’s 8-7, that’s a rivalry. Here it’s 13-1 (12-3) or something. There is no contest,” he said before winding up the media conference with a grin.

Opener Abhishek Sharma, who slammed a blazing 39-ball 74 to be the star of India’s facile chase of 172, said he did not like the needless belligerence of Pakistan players, which led to verbal altercations. Abhishek shared a 105-run opening wicket stand with Shubman Gill (47).

“Today it was very simple, the way they (Pakistan players) were coming at us for no reason, I didn’t like it at all and this is the only way (his aggressive batting) I could give medicine to them,” said Abhishek in the post-match presentation.

Both Abhishek and Gill had run-ins with Pakistan pacers Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi during the match.

Besides that, Abhishek was delighted to have shared a wonderful partnership with Gill, someone he shares a close bond from age-group cricket.

“We have been playing since school days, we enjoy each other’s company, we thought we would do it and today was the day. The way he was giving it back, I really enjoyed it.

“It’s (the way he bats) because the team supports me. That’s the intent I show and I’m practicing really hard and if it’s my day, I’m gonna win it for my team,” he added.

Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah had an off-day, conceding over 10 runs an over during his four-over spell. But skipper Suryakumar did not read too much into it.

“That’s fine, he’s not a robot, he will have a bad day someday. But (Shivam) Dube bailed us out of the situation,” he said.

Suryakumar was happy to see the way the team fought back after a rather listless first 10 overs where Pakistan made runs in excess of nine runs an over.

“The way the boys are stepping up in every game, it’s making my job very easy. The boys showed a lot of character.

“They were calm after the first 10 overs (of India’s bowling innings). After drinks, I told them the game starts now,” he noted.