'I did see some of the things Haris Rauf did': India coach addresses Pakistan's provocative gestures

Haris Rauf made gestures of plane crashing down allegedly indicating to the Pakistani narrative of bringing down Indian fighter jets during the 'Operation Sindoor'

India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate is extremely proud of a young team which didn't lose its mind despite Pakistan players indulged in controversial over the top celebrations and uttering not so respectable words during the Asia Cup Super Four game last Sunday. India beat Pakistan comfortably by six wickets riding on Abhishek Sharma's 39-ball-74 but the match was marred by gun-shooting celebrations by opener Sahibzada Farhan. Later pacer Haris Rauf made gestures of plane crashing down allegedly indicating to the Pakistani narrative of bringing down Indian fighter jets during the 'Operation Sindoor'.

When Ten Doeschate was asked about the intense moments, he was all praise for the maturity shown by Shubman Gill, Abhishek and Tilak Varma to close down the game without getting sucked into their antics. "Look, they had a very good start. I don't think they got carried away with it," Ten Doeschate said about the celebrations of Farhan.

"I will say given the situation you can see why guys are behaving and what they're trying to portray but we were very focused on how we wanted to behave. I think we stuck to the cricket really well," the former Dutch international said on Tuesday ahead of the Bangladesh game.

"It would have been easy to lose our minds at that point given the celebration as well and some of the words during the game from the Pakistan bowling unit. I thought the guys stuck really well to the task of getting the job done and winning the game."

Also Read | ICC suspends USA Cricket’s membership after breaches of its obligations

However, Doeschate also put into perspective as to what compelled Rauf in making those controversial gestures. "Let me first say, the amount of pressure that's been heaped on the players because of the situation, it's very difficult to control their behaviour. I did see some of the things Haris did and that's not our concern. Like I said earlier, we're really proud of how our guys carried themselves,” he said.

Ten Doeschate in a roundabout manner also indicated that these repercussions could have happened due to India's 'No Handshake Policy' with the Pakistan team in the wake of Pahalgam attacks. "They fought fire with their bats on the field. I'm sure other teams have issues with some of the things we've done but from our side, we're delighted with how our guys have carried themselves in this tournament," he added.