"Absolutely wrong to play against country that killed our people": Cricket fans in Gujarat ahead of India-Pakistan Asia Cup clash

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], September 14 (ANI): A bunch of cricket enthusiasts from Vadodara and Ahmedabad expressed their thoughts on the upcoming high-voltage game between India and Pakistan, which is scheduled to take place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday

The India national cricket team is taking on Pakistan for the first time in an international cricket match after the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Ahead of the clash, there had been a widespread demand from the opposition to boycott the match. However, the Centre had issued no objection for the Indian team to play against Pakistan in any multi-nation tournament.

A cricket enthusiast from Vadodara, Mohit, expressed his thoughts on the Asia Cup 2025 clash between India and Pakistan, saying that India should boycott this game.

"The first thing is that we should boycott this match. It is absolutely wrong that the country that killed our people, we are playing against them," Mohit told ANI.

Another cricket enthusiast from Vadodara, Rana, shared his thoughts on the fixture.

"As PM Modi said, blood and water cannot flow together similarly; the match between India and Pakistan should not be taking place. We are boycotting this match; we do not want to see this," Rana said.

A cricket enthusiast from Ahmedabad believes that the India-Pakistan match should take place as Sports and War are two different things.

"The match should be taking place. Sports and war are two different things. We should not mix them. We will watch this match definitely," a cricket fan said.

Another cricket enthusiast in Ahmedabad, Ashgar Ali, said, "This match should not be played. Such a significant incident took place in our country, but we are still playing a cricket match against them. According to me, we should boycott this completely..."

The India vs Pakistan rivalry has played out 13 times in the T20I format, with India leading 9-3. One of Pakistan's three wins came in the 2022 Asia Cup in Dubai - their last victory over India in T20 cricket.

India beat Pakistan by six runs in New York the last time the two teams met at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Bumrah produced a magical spell to turn the match when Pakistan seemed like the clear favourites to pick up a victory.

On the Asia Cup stage, India and Pakistan have met 19 times across both ODI and T20I formats. India have won 10, Pakistan six and three matches were abandoned.

Squads:

India: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (C), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim. (ANI)

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