"Kisne Bola?" Suryakumar Yadav Stumps Reporter On 'Favourites Question', Pakistan Captain Says...

India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha shared the spotlight with six other captains in the customary press conference ahead of the start of the Asia Cup 2025 on Tuesday. India remain the 'outright favourites' heading into the tournament, having also won the T20 World Cup a year ago. However, when Suryakumar and Salman were asked about the perception of India being 'favourites by a distance', the answer left him stunned. Suryakumar stunned everyone as he asked, "Kisne bola (Who said)?". (LIVE Updates: India vs UAE, Asia Cup 2025 | Follow here)

"'Kisne bola? Mene toh nahi suna. (Who said? I didn't hear it). Well, if your preparations are great then you are certainly confident when you take the field. Yes, we are playing after quite a while but we were here 3-4 days back. We had a good time as a team together. Really looking forward to this tournament," Suryakumar said, in response to the reporter's question in the press conference.

When Pakistan skipper Salman was asked to share his views on the perception, he said that no team is 'favourite' in T20s because of the nature of the game.

"In T20 cricket, I don't think so any one is favourite. At a particular day, you have to play good cricket. It's a fast-paced game. A couple of overs can change the game," Salman said.

Pakistan recently featured in a tri-series involving UAE and Afghanistan where they emerged triumphant. Ahead of the series, Salman had said that winning the tri-series would not make any sense if Pakistan don't go on to win the Asia Cup. When a reporter asked about these comments he made, Salman gave a diplomatic answer.

"Tri-series against AFG and UAE was always the prep for Asia Cup. We had to win that tournament. If we had not won it, we still had to come here and win the Asia Cup.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Suryakumar Yadav Agha Salman Asia Cup 2025 Cricket