India comfortably defeated Pakistan with a seven-wicket victory in Dubai during the Asia Cup clash, but their captain’s victory speech lacked ‘sportsman spirit’ as he chose to politicise cricket.
At the end of the game, Suryakumar Yadav said: “…we stand with the victims of the families of the Pahalgam terror attack, and we express our solidarity, and we want to dedicate today’s win to the armed force.”
In April, a terrorist attack took place in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, and India blamed Pakistan for the attack — allegations that Islamabad denies. Following that, India launched an attack on Pakistan, which was met with a befitting response.
The Pakistani armed forces not only shot down Indian drones that came into Pakistani territory, destroyed their check posts on the border, but also shot down their six fighter jets, including the French-made Rafale.
Pakistanis also found humorous ways to remind India of the war, with one social media user saying that “our national game is to down Indian jets”.
There was also tension during the match between the teams as the captains did not shake hands at the toss, nor did the teams meet post-match, defying decades-long cricket traditions.
But what struck a chord with social media users was skipper Yadav’s political speech.
In response, a user said: “India won the cricket but lost on the podium. What a pathetic victory speech by@surya_14kumar #noclass.”
“Suryakumar yadav bringing Politics in the between cricket and dedicated win to Phalagam attack and Indian Armed forces,” a user said, adding: “Surya Kumar Yadav dedicated the win to 6 – 0 Score?”
Another witty user added: “Suryakumar Yadav said, ‘We stand with the victims of the families of Pahalgam by putting Pakistan in the same group as India and scheduling the match on Sunday for higher viewership’.”
A user wondered whether Yadav’s speech was allowed under the ICC rules.
Another expressed dismay and said that the closing ceremony was a “total chaos”.
A user also shared a video showing how the Indian team as a whole showed no sportsmanship.
