Dubai: Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav shared his mantra for ignoring ‘outside noise’ during a candid interaction with the media at the press conference ahead of the team’s 2025 Asia Cup Super 4s match against Pakistan.
India and Pakistan are scheduled to face each other for the second time in the tournament after both teams progressed to the Super Fours. The group stage match between the two sides sparked a lot of drama due to the Men in Blue’s decision not to shake hands with their neighbours.
Yadav was again questioned about the handshake snub, but the 35-year-old handled the situation well and gave fitting responses.
When a member of the media asked, “In the last match against Pakistan, apart from the bat, India did well in the remaining aspects as well. In the next match, can we expect India to do the same as in the previous game,” referring to the Men in Blue’s handshake snub, the skipper had a witty response as he said:
“Oh, you mean good performance with the ball? Yes, definitely. There’s a good combination of performance with both bat and ball. It feels so good when a stadium is jam-packed and you get support from such a big crowd. We just want to put our best foot forward for the country and do our best in the game.”
The Mumbai Indians batter, when asked about the rivalry between the two sides, spoke: “I don’t know what rivalry you are talking about. When I go to the ground, I see a packed stadium, and when I see that, I tell my team, ‘Chalo bhai log, entertainment ka time aa gaya hai’”
Speaking of his ways of shutting off the outside noise ahead of crucial encounters, the Mumbai-born said: “Close your room, switch off your phone and sleep. That is the best thing. It is easy to say, but sometimes it is difficult, because you meet a lot of friends, you go out for dinner, and you also have a lot of players around who like to see all these things. It is challenging, but it is up to you what you want to listen to and what you want to have on your mind. Going forward, we will have to shut out a lot of noise from outside. I have made that clear to the boys.”
The Indian T20I captain said that winning the group stage game against Pakistan doesn’t put the Men in Blue ahead in the race, adding that the team will ‘start from scratch’ after looking back at their Friday’s performance against Oman.
“It doesn’t give us an edge that we have played them [Pakistan] once and had a good game. We will have to start from scratch. The country always supports us in every game. In this game, too, keep supporting us,” Yadav noted.
