Virender Sehwag Made A Big Statement On Friendship Between India And Pakistan Players: Every time on our television news channels, we have seen and heard anchors talking about ‘wars’ and ‘battles’ and a ‘do or die effort’, whenever an India-Pakistan cricket match is around the corner. However, it is far from reality now.
After a gap of 10 months, since India’s 10-wicket defeat vs Pakistan at the T20 World Cup last year, the two Asians Giants collide once again – now in the Asia Cup 2022, this Sunday.
And once again while there is a high-voltage build-up and extreme hype from days before the game, there is nothing that suggests animosity among the players of the two teams; in fact, it has all been jovial so far: Virat Kohli meeting Babar Azam; Kohli, KL Rahul, Chahal and Pant having a friendly chat with the injured Shaheen Afridi.
We behave as if we are brothers: Virender Sehwag
Former India opener Virender Sehwag, who was part of highly tensed India-Pakistan encounters for over a decade, revealed that the tussle is between the two teams is only limited to the field. Off it, Sehwag said, everyone is friendly with each other and there is great camaraderie between the cricketers.
“What I feel is that when India and Pakistan are on the ground, it’s a difficult game. Everybody gives their best. If somebody is from India, the person plays to win the game for his team. If somebody is playing for Pakistan, the same thing happens. When we finish the match and return to the hotel, we spend time together. There is lot of love between us,” Sehwag told Star Sports.
“Some people say that there is tension between India and Pakistan, or that there is fight between Indian and Pakistan players, but I would like to say that nothing of that sort happens. You see the competition only on the field. Outside it we are friends, we behave as if one is the elder brother and the other the younger brother,” he added.
Sehwag himself is known to have become good friends with someone like Shoaib Akhtar, the fearsome former Pakistani pacer, and both have done plenty of commentary together.
Speaking about the upcoming Asia Cup 2022, India and Pakistan are placed in the same Group A for the first round and are favourites not only to reach the Super 4 – where they will meet again – but also to the final, making up for potentially three matches this tournament between them.
Here are the squads of both teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
