Pakistan is set to play its first Asia Cup final against India. Amidst off-field controversies, coach Mike Hesson wants the team to focus on cricket.
Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf’s bowling helped Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 11 runs and that’s the first ever India-Pakistan final in 41 years of Asia Cup history. Hesson told the media that there’s always passion in high pressure matches, his team is just trying to play well.
In the group stage match, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube didn’t shake hands with the Pakistan team after their win and Suryakumar dedicated the win to Indian Armed Forces.
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) asked the ICC to remove match-referee Andy Pycroft, alleging he breached the ICC Code of Conduct by not having the handshakes happen. Pakistan even threatened to boycott if Pycroft wasn’t removed and delayed the match by an hour. Later it was revealed that Pycroft was informed about the ‘no handshake’ just before the toss.
In the Super Four match, Sahibzada Farhan gestured firing a gun after his half-century and Haris Rauf taunted Indian fans with 0-6 after dismissing Sanju Samson. BCCI has lodged a complaint against Sahibzada and Rauf.
Hesson said their Super Four match against Pakistan was better than the group stage one. Last match we had that game by the scruff of the neck for a good period. It was an exceptional innings from Abhishek Sharma to take the game away from us. We have to be good enough to put India under pressure for a long period, he added.
Hesson concluded that his team deserves to play the final against India – We will try to play our best game towards the end.
