'I did see some of the things he did...': India coach reacts to Haris Rauf's plane crash gesture in Asia Cup clash

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate praised the Indian team for staying calm and focused despite controversial celebrations from Pakistan players during their Asia Cup Super 4 clash last Sunday. At the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Doeschate was asked about the antics used by Pakistan players to provoke the Indians during the game.

India defeated Pakistan comfortably by six wickets, thanks to Abhishek Sharma’s quickfire 74 off 39 balls and Shubman Gill’s 47 off 28 balls. However, the match was overshadowed by Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan’s gun-firing celebration and pacer Haris Rauf’s plane crash gesture, suggesting that Pakistan Air Force shot down six Indian fighter jets during Operation Sindoor.

Doeschate reacts to Pakistan players’ celebrations

Doeschate appreciated the maturity shown by Indian batters for staying focused and not getting distracted by the antics. He also noted that it would have been easy to lose their cool with the celebrations and some words from the Pakistan bowling unit, but lauded the way they handled it on the field. Abhishek and Gill did get involve in altercations with Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi during the chase.

“Look, they had a very good start. I don’t think they got carried away with it [Farhan’s gun-firing celebration]. I will say given the situation you can see why guys are behaving and what they’re trying to portray but we were very focused on how we wanted to behave. I think we stuck to the cricket really well,” former Dutch cricketer said ahead of India’s match against Bangladesh.

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“It would have been easy to lose our minds at that point given the celebration as well and some of the words during the game from the Pakistan bowling unit. I thought the guys stuck really well to the task of getting the job done and winning the game. Let me first say, the amount of pressure that’s been heaped on the players because of the situation, it’s very difficult to control their behaviour,” he added.

“I did see some of the things Haris did and that’s not our concern. Like I said earlier, we’re really proud of how our guys carried themselves. Given the situation, you can see why guys are behaving and what they’re trying to portray, but we were very focused on how we wanted to behave. I think we stuck to the cricket really well. I thought the guys stuck really well to the task of getting the job done and winning the game,” he said.

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India had refused to shake hands with Pakistani players during their group stage game earlier in the tournament. Suryakumar Yadav even dedicated the victory to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and the armed forces. This angered the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which made a complaint to the International Cricket Council (ICC) last week but to no avail.

Pakistan players stooped to making gestures after failing to contain the Indian attack on the field. India did the same in their Super 4 game on Sunday, as they walked off without shaking hands with Pakistan players after hitting the winning runs. Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma were in the middle during the chase. However, the Indian players did shake hands with match officials.