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Following India’s hard-fought victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 Super 4s, the on-field tension has sparked a significant off-field debate. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has emerged as one of the most outspoken voices, sharply criticizing the aggressive on-field behavior of the Pakistani players.
Irfan Pathan’s scathing assessment and direct warning
Pathan’s comments, made on his YouTube channel, serve as a direct warning, asserting that while India prefers to keep the rivalry civil, it will not tolerate what he described as classless aggression. He believes that India’s response will always be with the bat.
Pathan made his perspective on the situation abundantly clear, stating his disapproval of Pakistan’s conduct during the match. “India wins, India progresses. This is the magic of India,” he began, before addressing the aggressive banter. “But yesterday we got to see a lot of aggression, a lot of banter, to the extent that Abhishek Sharma said in the post-match presentation that they said things they shouldn’t have.”
Pathan made it a point to distinguish between the two teams’ mindsets. “Indian cricketers are never affected. We never say anything. We quietly play our cricket. But don’t think that we won’t respond if you say something, whether you’re Australian or Pakistani. We will answer. We will answer with our bat, and we will answer you,” He concluded his warning by stating, “If you mess with us, we won’t let you go. That has been our rule,”
Pathan calls out Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan’s antics
Pathan also explicitly called out the behavior of specific players, citing Sahibzada Farhan‘s controversial “gun celebration” and Haris Rauf‘s taunting antics. He expressed his personal disappointment in Rauf, noting, “Haris Rauf, I thought this boy was okay. When we spoke in Australia he sounded grateful. But the way he behaved yesterday, that was not necessary,”
Pathan concluded his critique with a final jab, asserting, “How both these boys acted only tells us about their upbringing, where they come from and what they do,” He drew a sharp contrast to how India views the rivalry, stating, “We never even talk in the media about how Pakistan lost, how they lost to Zimbabwe in World Cup 2022… because it didn’t matter to anyone that you win or you lose. We analyse them properly, do proper detailing, but we don’t care.”
