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With Team India registering a triumphant return against the UAE on Tuesday, September 10 in their Asia Cup 2025 opener, it has now come down to the highly-anticipated match against Pakistan. The two arch-rivals are set to lock horns in their first T20I game after last featuring at the T20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday, September 14 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.
While the match is set to offer neck-and-neck battle, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning for an invisible boycott as reportedly none of the BCCI office bearers are likely to be present for the match, except for Rajeev Shukla, who serves as a representative of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia and ICC Chairman Jay Shah are likely to miss the match.
Winning the match can be a befitting reply: Devajit Saikia opens ahead of IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2025 match
Speaking on the eve of the India versus Pakistan fixture, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia wished good luck to Team India while adding that a win in itself could be the best reply to all the incidents that has happened in the recent past. “For tomorrow's game BCCI wishes all the best to Indian cricket team. They will do their best to win the match so that so that it can be a befitting reply to all the incidents which we don't want to remember for long,” he began.
“India although have to play with a country with which we don't have good relationship. But still we have to play multinational tournament as per the policy of the government of India,” Saikia added while speaking to India Today. Saikia also added that as a part of the spirit of game, India has to play Pakistan in multinational tournaments, stating, “we cannot refuse to play a multinational tournament which will be against the spirit of the game. We fully honor the spirit of the game and participate in any international or multinational tournament so that nothing takes place against the interests of our players and about our various sports disciplines.”
While the match has been amid a lot of controversy with the BCCI agreeing to play Pakistan despite the horrific Pahalgam attack which left 26 innocent lives dead. However, members of the BCCI have time and again provided clarity on the same, it continues to be marred with controversy.
