Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar took a brutal dig at Pakistan cricket team after their shambolic performance in the high-voltage Asia Cup 2025 match against their arch-rivals on Sunday in Dubai. Gavaskar stated that he hardly felt an international side was playing against India and called them a 'popatwadi team'.
After skipper Salman Ali Agha elected to bat first in Dubai, citing the dry nature of the surface, Pakistan went nowhere, losing two wickets in the first couple of overs. The regular theme of Pakistan's batting was losing wickets everytime they tried to build a partnership. The total of 127 was nowhere enough as India eased past it in 15.5 overs.
Speaking on Sony Sports, Gavaskar said:
"Mujhe pata nahin ki Ajay, Irfan aur Viru mere saath sehmat honge ki nahin. Par main Pakistan ki team 1960s se dekhte aaya hoon jab main Hanif Mohammad sahab ko dekhne ke liye Churchgate station se Brabourne Stadium tak daudke gaya tha. Aur is baar, is match mein pehli baar mujhe aisa laga ki yeh Pakistan ki team nahin hai. Yeh koi popatwadi team hai."
(I don't know if Ajay, Irfan and Viru will agree with me. But I have been seeing Pakistan since the 1960s when I ran from Churchgate station to Brabourne Stadium to watch Hanif Mohammad. But for the first time I feel this is not a Pakistan cricket team. It's a popatwadi team.)
Team India all but seal their qualification to Super 4
The seven-wicket victory over Pakistan that followed the nine-wicket win against the UAE has all but sealed India's qualification to the Super 4 stage.
India still have one more game to go in the multi-nation tournament as they will take on Oman on September 19, Friday and will be optimistic of defeating them. Pakistan, on the other hand, face a boom or bust situation as they must beat UAE to progress to Super 4.
