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Harbhajan Singh has asked India to boycott the 2025 Asia Cup match against Pakistan.
Harbhajan Singh (PTI Photo)
Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has urged the Indian team to boycott the Pakistan match at the 2025 Asia Cup, rekindling the adage ‘water and blood can’t flow together’. Harbhajan said that until India’s bigger issues with Pakistan, i.e., killing of soldiers and civilian terrorist attacks, aren’t resolved, cricket shouldn’t matter, and each player should prioritize their ‘duty’ to the country before anything else.
The backlash for India-Pakistan matches is at its peak since the Pahalgam attack in Kashmir and the following cross-border exchanges between the two countries, which cost the lives of several Indians. Harbhajan was part of the India Champions team in the World Championship of Legends, a private T20 league for retired cricketers, that, after facing fans’ fury, forfeited two games against Pakistan to let them proceed to the final.
However, soon after, it was announced that the 2025 Asia Cup would go ahead with India and Pakistan in the same group and set to play at most three matches against each other.
“They need to understand what is important and what is not,” Harbhajan told The Times of India. “This is as simple as that. For me, humare desh ka wo jawan jo sarhad par khada hua hai, unki families jo kayi baar unko nahi dekh paati hain, unki shahadat ho jaati hai, wo ghar wapas nahi laut paate hain — unki itni badi sacrifice hoti hai hum sabke liye. Toh ye to bahut chhoti si baat hai ki hum ek cricket match na chhod sakein [For me, the soldier who stands on the border, whose family often doesn’t get to see him, who sometimes sacrifices his life and never returns home — their sacrifice is so immense for all of us. Compared to that, this is a very small thing — that we can’t even skip playing one cricket match. It’s a very small matter].”
India are the defending champions and the host of the tournament, which they will organise in the UAE to avoid the Pakistani team crossing the border to here.
‘No one is bigger than the nation’: Harbhajan to cricketers
It’s unclear whether the players can individually pull out of the match if the boards, the BCCI, and the PCB decide to go ahead with the game. But Harbhajan has urged them to keep the country first.
“Our government has the same stance, ‘Khoon aur paani ek saath nahi beh sakte.’ (blood and sweat cannot co-exist). It cannot be the case that there’s fighting on the border, tensions between the two nations, and we go to play cricket. Until these big issues are resolved, cricket is a very small matter. The nation always comes first. Whatever our identity is, it’s because of this country. Whether you are a player, an actor, or anyone else — no one is bigger than the nation. The country comes first, and the duties we owe to it must be fulfilled. Cricket match na khelna bahut maamuli si cheez hai desh ke saamne [Not playing a cricket match is nothing compared to the importance of the nation],” the former spinner said.
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