Pakistani cricketers Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf’s gestures on field in the Super Four match have sparked the “boycott” debate in India.
In the match against India, Farhan celebrated his half-century by pointing his bat like a gun, much like an “AK-47”.
Later in the match, Rauf, who was fielding at the boundary, responded to the Indian fans’ jibes by lifting his fingers suggesting ‘0-6’ in reference to Pakistan’s unsubstantiated claim of downing Indian fighter jets during the Operation Sindoor.
Training his guns at ICC Chairman Jay Shah, who also happens to be the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut shared Farhan’s celebration video and wrote on X, “Who is responsible for this? Jay Bhai! Jay Bhai! Jay Bhai should be awarded the Bharat Ratna…”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj wrote on X, “In the India-Pakistan match, the Pakistani player is making a mockery of India in front of the whole world. He is making gestures of shooting down the Indian ship.
“Why were Pakistanis given such a world-class platform? Why didn’t we walk out right then? Curse on the BJP’s central government. By playing 2-2 matches with Pakistan, they have told the entire world that everything is fine with Pakistan. And their such antics?”
The Indian cricketers refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts similar to what they had done in the group stage as the men-in-blue played against their arch-rival in the shadow of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir.
While the opposition leaders back in India demanded the boycott of the Pakistani matches, the BCCI did not restrict Team India from playing but the cricketers controversially refused to show any courtesy to their counterparts before and after the matches.
In both the Group as well as Super Four matches, India defeated Pakistan at ease, leaving Pakistan sulking.
In the Super Four match on Sunday, India (174-4) chased down Pakistan’s 172-run target at ease in 18.5 overs with six wickets in hand.
Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill hit 105 for the opening wicket ,bolstering India’s run-chase.
While Abhishek slammed 74 off 39 balls (6 fours and 5 sixes), Gill slammed 47 off just 28 balls.
Tilak Varma remained unbeaten at 30 off 19 balls (2 fours and 2 sixes) to finish India’s task at the back-end along with Hardik Pandya, who scored 7 not out.
