 "Suryakumar Yadav's viral remark on the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry only added fuel to the fire that was raging between the two sides in the Asia Cup. Image: AP")
Suryakumar Yadav had made headlines for his comment on India’s cricketing dominance over Pakistan in recent years, questioning whether the two sides even shared a ‘rivalry’ anymore given how lopsided the recent head-to-head record is in favour of the Men in Blue.
India, after all, have a 16-3 win-loss record in ODIs and T20Is against Pakistan since 2015. And in the recent Men’s T20 Asia Cup, Surya and Co defeated Pakistan thrice in as many meetings – including in the final on 28 September to win the tournament in dominant fashion.
“I feel we should stop asking this question on (India-Pakistan) rivalry, whether a team plays good cricket or not. According to me, if two teams are playing 15-20 matches and if it is 7-all or someone is ahead 8-7, then that is called playing good cricket and that is called rivalry,” India T20I captain Surya had said during the Asia Cup, which witnessed plenty of friction between Indian and Pakistani cricketers.
“13-0, 10-1, I don’t know what the stats are. But this is not a rivalry anymore,” he added.
Surya had become quite the unpopular figure within Pakistani cricketing circles during the Asia Cup for the Indian team’s ’no-handshake’ policy that was limited to the Men in Green due to the Pahalgam terror attack in April and the subsequent military standoff between the two nations.
Azam Khan backs Suryakumar Yadav’s comment on Indo-Pak rivalry
His comment on the Indo-Pak cricketing rivalry, or the lack thereof, will have made Pakistan’s former cricketers as well as fans even angrier.
Pakistan cricketer Azam Khan, however, is an exception in this trend, in that the 27-year-old batter agrees with Surya’s assessment.
“If you see the ICC tournaments, I think… I don’t know if I should say this, but technically, he (Suryakumar) is correct,” Azam, son of legendary wicketkeeper Moin Khan, told Crickwick.
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View AllAzam’s comment, however, isn’t likely to go down well with the Pakistan Cricket Board, whose chairman Mohsin Naqvi has been at loggerheads with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for more than a month now over the Asia Cup winner’s trophy.
Despite India’s dominance over Pakistan in recent years, it’s the latter who remain ahead in the overall ODI head-to-head record with 73 wins and 58 defeats. Pakistan also lead India 12-9 in their Test H2H record, with 38 matches between the two sides ending in a draw, although they have not played a Test for nearly two decades now.