Asia Cup | 'We are ready': Pakistan captain's rallying cry before India clash

NEW DELHI: Fresh disconnected the handshake contention and the precocious resolved stand-off with lucifer referee Andy Pycroft, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha struck a defiant enactment up of the blockbuster Super Four clash against India, declaring that his squad is “ready for immoderate challenge.”Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The hostility betwixt the 2 sides has spilled beyond the bound rope. Their group-stage gathering successful Dubai, played nether the shadiness of the Pahalgam panic onslaught connected April 22, had already triggered calls for a boycott. India thrashed Pakistan by 7 wickets and walked consecutive backmost to the dressing room, refusing to prosecute successful the customary handshakes. Pakistan’s players responded by skipping the post-match presentation.Ex-cricketers lined up to criticise India’s stance, portion the PCB blamed Pycroft for a “breach of conduct” and demanded his removal. The ICC’s refusal escalated the drama, adjacent forcing Pakistan to cancel a scheduled property conference. Matters worsened earlier the UAE fixture erstwhile the squad threatened a boycott, staying backmost astatine their Dubai Marina edifice until conscionable 30 minutes earlier the toss. The standoff caused an unprecedented one-hour delay.

On the field, Pakistan initially faltered again with the bat, reeling astatine 128/8 earlier Shaheen Afridi’s precocious fireworks — 29 disconnected 14 balls with 2 sixes and a 4 — lifted them to 146/9. Though modest, the full proved much than enough, with Salman starring from the beforehand alongside Abrar Ahmed and Saim Ayub arsenic Pakistan’s spinners throttled UAE to seal a 41-run triumph and a Super Four berth.Salman, however, was candid astir his team’s shortcomings. “We got the occupation done, but we inactive request to amended our batting successful the mediate order. That’s been a concern… we’re inactive conscionable uncovering our mode to 150. If we bat good successful the mediate overs, we tin propulsion it to 170 nary substance the opposition. Shaheen’s batting has improved a batch — he’s already large with the ball,” helium said.But it was his rallying outcry that acceptable the signifier for Sunday’s showdown: “We’re acceptable for immoderate challenge, and if we support playing the mode we person implicit the past 4 months, we’ll beryllium bully against immoderate side.”