Dubai is set to host one of cricket’s most intense rivalries today (Sunday) as Pakistan take on arch-rival India in the Asia Cup 2025 clash.
Pakistan-India cricket match is always a blockbuster, but emotions will run even higher in today’s clash between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who engaged in a four-day military conflict earlier this year.
The match will be played at Dubai Cricket Stadium and will commence at 7:30pm PST.
The bilateral cricket ties between the two countries have been suspended for quite some time. The neighbours have not met on either side’s soil in a bilateral series since 2012 and only play each other in international tournaments on neutral ground as part of a compromise deal.
Political relations have deteriorated further since the May conflict, with several former Indian players urging the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to boycott what will be the first meeting between the teams since the recent hostilities.
“I don’t know what will happen, but I have already said that, according to me, this match should not be played,” said former cricketer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kedar Jadhav said while speaking to the media as reported by the ANI.
Meanwhile, BJP lawmaker Anurag Thakur said: “When multinational tournaments are organised by ACC or ICC, it becomes a compulsion, a necessity for nations to participate. If they don’t do that, they will be eliminated from the tournament, they will have to forfeit the match and the other team will get the points”.
In the ongoing tournament, the two Asian cricketing giants have been clubbed together in the same group and could potentially meet three times in the tournament, which concludes on September 28.
India, the reigning 20-over world champions, are firm favourites to retain their Asia Cup title and are determined not to let geopolitics derail their campaign.
“Once the BCCI said they are aligned with the government, we are here to play,” India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak told reporters on Friday. “Once we are here to play, I think players are focused on playing cricket. I personally don’t think they have anything in mind apart from playing cricket and that’s what we focus on”.
Pakistan coach Mike Hesson also wants his team to stay focused, though the significance of the match is not lost on him.
“Being part of a highly-charged event is going to be exciting,” the New Zealander said this week. “From my perspective […] it is about keeping everybody focused on the job at hand. That will be no different.
“We know India are obviously hugely confident and rightfully so. But we are very much focused on improving as a team day-by-day and not getting ahead of ourselves.”
India appear by far the strongest side in the eight-team tournament, having reinforced themselves with the selection of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and top order batter Shubman Gill.
They were ruthless in their nine-wicket demolition of the United Arab Emirates, whom they routed for 57 in 13.1 overs before returning to chase down the target in 27 balls on Thursday.
Pakistan also opened their account with an easy victory against Oman but their batting has been rather inconsistent.
Pakistan are without former skippers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan but will take heart from winning a T20 tri-series in UAE, also involving Afghanistan, before heading into the Asia Cup.
“We have been playing good cricket in the last two-three months and we just have to play good cricket,” Pakistan captain Salman said on Friday.
Pakistan squad: Salman Agha (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
