India vs Pakistan 'Politics' In Asia Cup Leaves Kapil Dev Fuming, Says "Stick To Sports"

The Asia Cup 2025 concluded on a controversial note that saw the Indian team being denied the trophy over the stance of not accepting it from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, also a Pakistani minister. India's stance was reportedly communicated to the ACC well before the final began, yet a fuming Naqvi decided to storm out of the ceremony, taking the trophy with him after the final. Seeing 'politics' overshadow cricket in the entire Asia Cup 2025 campaign, Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev expressed his disappointment.

In a chat with India Today, Kapil Dev wasn't happy to see the political conflict between India and Pakistan spilling onto the field. Being a sportsperson, the former India captain said that the focus should have been on sports.

"I just want to say, your responsibility, and the responsibility for the entire media also, is that we should look into the sports side rather than looking into the politics side. Yes, media has the responsibility to bring everything on the table, but as a sportsman, I would like to see that we should stick to sports. It will be much better," he said.

Kapil also shared his views on the standard of cricket in Pakistan. Comparing the current squad to the ones he used to play against, the legendary all-rounder does not feel that the team from across the border has the talent it used to in the '80s and '90s.

"Yeah, I think they don't have the similar talent they used to have in the '80s, '90s, or before that. Pakistan has given us, to the world, one of the best cricketers. You can talk about Imran Khan, you can talk about Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis. They have given us that talent. But unfortunately, we can't see similar talent today, not even one per cent of what they used to have," Kapil Dev added.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Kapil Dev Asia Cup 2025 Cricket