'Stop calling India vs Pakistan a rivalry, there is no contest': Suryakumar Yadav

India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav

India skipper Suryakumar Yadav made a strong point to journalists gathered for the post-match press conference following the impressive six-wicket win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Super Four encounter at the Dubai International Stadium. He urged everyone to stop calling the contests between the two nations a meaningful “rivalry” and justified his opinion by highlighting the stark difference between them.

It began when a senior Pakistani journalist asked if the gulf in standards between the two sides had grown too wide. To which, Suryakumar graciously responded: "Sir, my request is that we should now stop calling India vs Pakistan matches a rivalry."

Suryakumar Yadav says there's no rivalry between India and Pakistan anymore in terms of cricket. pic.twitter.com/EAB0gMJeGA

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The journalist interrupted and clarified he isn't talking about "rivalry but standard", the India skipper added: "Sir, rivalry and standard are all the same. Now what is a rivalry? If two teams have played 15 matches and it’s 8-7, that’s a rivalry. Here it’s 13-1 (12-3) or something. There is no contest."

Also Read | Asia Cup: Abhishek Sharma cooks Pakistan a meal of crafty strokeplay and ruthless aggression

Having already defeated them by seven wickets in the group stage, this was India's second comfortable win against the arch-rivals in the tournament.

Meanwhile, since the 2022 T20 World Cup, this was India's seventh successive win over Pakistan in white-ball cricket. In 15 T20Is against Pakistan, India have emerged victorious on 12 occasions, and lost thrice.

Here are the results of recent India-Pakistan clashes since the T20 WC 2022, when Virat Kohli hit an epic 82* to power India to a 160-run target from a losing situation of 31/4 at Melbourne:

- Asia Cup 2025: India won by 6 wickets

-Asia Cup 2025: India won by 7 wickets

-Champions Trophy 2025: India won by 6 wickets

-T20 World Cup 2024: India won by 6 runs

-ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: India won by 7 wickets

-Asia Cup 2023: India won by 228 runs

-T20 World Cup 2022: India won by 4 wickets