It was no coincedence that India cricket team captain Suryakumar Yadav and his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha were seated separetly during the Asia Cup 2025 captains’ meet on Tuesday. The event, which took place before the Afghanistan vs Hong Kong tournament opener saw Rashid Khan sitting in between the above mentioned duo. While this comes as no surprise, a journalist who was present at the venue has confirmed that this indeed was pre-planned.
India, Pakistan captains seated seprately at pre-Asia Cup event
As per NDTV, journalist Rituraj Borkakoty claimed that the Emiriates Cricket Board, who are organising the tournament, were asked to seat SKY and Agha seperately. He claimed that while there was no official quote from the ECB, he was unofficailly informed that arrangements would be made in such a way that Rashid sits in between the captains of the two teams.
“Well, that’s what struck me as well. I tried to speak to somebody from the Emirates Cricket Board, but they are not the hosts — they are just organising it. They refused to say anything officially, but they just told me that they have been asked to keep the two captains separate. So that’s why maybe it was arranged in a way that, you know, Rashid Khan was in between Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha,” the journalist was quoted as saying.
What SKY, Agha said
Both skippers iterated that showing aggression is very much part of the sport.
“Aggression is always there; we take the field. Without aggression, I don’t think you can play the sport. I’m very excited to take the field from tomorrow (match against the UAE),” Suryakumar said.
“You don’t need to say anything to any player. Everyone is individually very different. If someone wants to be aggressive in the field, they are more than welcome to do that. When it comes to fast bowlers, they are always aggressive, and you can’t stop them because that’s what keeps them going. From my side, there is no instruction as long as it (aggression) stays on the ground,” Agha replied.
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