NEW DELHI: The Indian and Pakistan teams on Tuesday trained at the ICC Academy in Dubai. While the time slots for their practice sessions were different, the two teams were at the venue at the same time for around an hour. After finishing his training session, India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav returned to the team hotel. As Suryakumar walked in, a hotel staff member stopped him to ask for a selfie. The staffer was filming a video while speaking to the Indian skipper.
In the video, the hotel staff member can be heard telling Suryakumar, “I am from Pakistan.” Despite the geopolitical rivalry between the two countries, Suryakumar readily agreed to pose for the selfie. The staffer further said, “Hum dost hain saare (We are all friends),” to which Suryakumar smiled and obliged.
Suryakumar is leading India at the ongoing Asia Cup and has guided the team to an unbeaten start so far. Under his captaincy, India began their campaign with a dominant nine-wicket win over United Arab Emirates and then crushed arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets.Against Pakistan on Sunday, Suryakumar played a captain’s knock, scoring an unbeaten 47 off 37 balls. He hit the winning runs, finishing the 128-run chase with a six off the penultimate delivery of the 16th over.India are now set to face Oman in their last group match on Friday, September 19, at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. India have already qualified for the Super Four stage.
Pakistan, meanwhile, face hosts UAE on Wednesday in a must-win game. If they win, they will meet India again on Sunday.In a related development, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly pushed for the removal of ICC match referee Andy Pycroft after the “no-handshake” controversy following their loss to India. According to sources, while removing Pycroft from the entire tournament is unlikely, he could be “rested” for the Pakistan-UAE match at the Dubai International Stadium. Pakistan also cancelled their pre-match press conference scheduled for Wednesday.
