‘Leave friendship outside the boundary’, Gambhir on friendly exchanges with Pakistani players

Former Indian player Gautam Gambhir has disapproved of amiable interactions between Indian and Pakistani sides during their Asia Cup 2023 clash.

Expressing his views on the camaraderie shown by Pakistani and Indian players in their recent Asia Cup 2023 clash, the former Indian player said: “You can be as friendly as you want after those six or seven hours of cricket.”

“Leave the friendship outside the boundary ropes”, Gambhir said commenting on the amiable exchanges between the two sides during the match.

The former Indian cricketer said that Indian players should show aggression as they are representing a whole nation and not just themselves.

Comparing the behaviour of current players with that of previous eras, Gambhir said: “These days you see players of rival teams patting each other on the back and exchanging fist bumps during a match. You would never see that a few years ago."

The former Indian wicket-keeper batsman also accentuated that sledging is part of the game as long as it doesn’t get too personal or someone’s family is involved.

"Banter is fine. In games against Australia and Pakistan, there used to be banter," he added.

It is to be noted that the much anticipated Pak-India clash in Asia Cup 2023 was washed away due to rain with one point awarded to each side.

The rain-affected match saw India setting up a target of 267 runs against Pakistan as Pakistani pacers limited the Indian batting powerhouse and took all ten wickets.

Shaheen Shah Afridi bagged four key wickets including that of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, meanwhile, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah took three wickets each.

Pakistan has already qualified for the Super 4 stage of the tournament.

Both teams will meet once again on September 10 in the Super Four stage should India win their final group game against Nepal on September 4.