Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta was highly critcal of both Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf for their 'insensitive' antics during the Asia Cup match on Sunday. Notably, after reaching his fifty against India, Farhan decided to do a controversial 'gun' celebrations while on the other hand, Rauf was seen making signals of 6-0 towards the Indian fans while fielding at the boundary rope. This refers to Pakistan's claim of taking down six Indian fighter jets during Operation Sindoor.
Dasgupta lashed out at both Farhan and Rauf and questioned them for their provocative celebrations. He further stated that there is no rivalry on the pitch referring to the fact that India have absolutely dominated over Pakistan in almost all the matches held between the two teams in the last few years.
"If you speak about Sahibzada Farhan's celebration, it was insensitive. How insensitive can you be? You played well, you scored 50, but how insensitive. People have lost their lives, and families have lost their near and dear ones. How can you do that? How can you celebrate like that?" Dasgupta said on his YouTube channel.
"This is childishness. We always say that at this level, it is not about the skill, it is about the maturity and what's in your head. In these aspects, the thought process and the mentality, the rivalry is not there, and if the situation persists, it won't be there," he added.
Dasgupta's rant on Rauf
Dasgupta further advised Rauf to focus on his game rather than trying to rile up the Indian fans and players. The Pakistan seamer was involved in a heated verbal spat with Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill on the field. The Men in Blue would eventually go on to win the match by six wickets with both Abhishek and Gill playing a key role in the victory. The duo formed a massive opening stand of 105 runs to shift the momentum totally towards India.
“Haris Rauf taking on the crowd. Just focus on your job. On the field, focus on yourself and delivery. Your focus is somewhere else. For having fun for 15-20 minutes, you are ready to lose your focus and worry about everything that you don't need to be concerned about,” Dasgupta further stated.
Pakistan to face Sri Lanka next
Meanwhile, Pakistan will be looking to bounce back from the defeat to their arch-rivals in their next match of the Asia Cup which will be against Sri Lanka on September 23. On the other hand, India will be hoping to continue their winning streak in the tournament when they take on Bangladesh on September 24.