Former India skipper Kapil Dev has slammed Pakistan’s mindset and “ugly” attitude after the provocative gestures made by their players during the heated Super 4s clash against India on Sunday, where the Men in Blue notched up a smooth-sailing, six-wicket win over their arch-rivals.
‘Just ignore them’
“This is their [Pakistan] mindset. They believe in this. They don’t like books, they like AK47 [assault rifle]. Is pe dhyan dene ka nahi [we should not pay attention to this],” Kapil, 66, told mid-day on Wednesday.
Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan does a gun-firing act to celebrate his half-century against India on Sunday. Pic/AFP
On Sunday, when Pakistan were batting in the first innings, opener Sahibzada Farhan celebrated reaching his half-century with a gun-firing action using his bat to resemble a rifle. Then, in the second innings, pacer Haris Rauf mocked the Indian crowd near the boundary line, with the gesture of a plane crashing, with seemingly possible two references; the first being the unfortunate plane crash in Ahmedabad where 260 lives were lost on June 12, and the second referring to a possible loss of Indian Air Force planes in aerial combat after tensions between the two nations escalated following the Pahalgam terror attack in April where 26 tourists were killed by allegedly Pakistani gunmen.
1983 World Cup-winning captain, Kapil, who figured in 29 Tests and 32 ODIs against Pakistan, claiming 99 and 42 wickets respectively, added that the Pakistani teams have been behaving like this for ages. “They [Pakistan] have been exhibiting this ugly attitude for a long time now. Pakistan always tend to forget that it’s a cricket field and bad gestures are not allowed. But who will tell them? This has been happening for decades after decades,” added the legendary all-rounder, who claimed 434 wickets and scored 5248 runs in 131 Tests besides taking 253 wickets and 3783 runs in 225 ODIs.
Pakistan’s Haris Rauf mocks the crowd with a plane crash gesture during the match against India in Dubai on Sunday. Pic/PTI
‘Good we didn’t retaliate’
The former captain was proud of the way the Indian players carried themselves though. “I’m very happy that our boys did not retaliate. Instead, they concentrated on playing good cricket,” Kapil signed off.