IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal backed Suryakumar Yadav’s bold claim about India-Pakistan cricket recently. Yadav said there’s no real rivalry between the nations anymore after winning. Dhumal agreed with his T20I captain’s statement completely after the Asia Cup 2025 final.
India beat Pakistan for the third straight time in the Asia Cup tournament. Dhumal thinks people have blown this rivalry thing way out of proportion now. He believes matches against England and Australia test India much more these days.
India’s Dominance Under Yadav’s Leadership
Suryakumar Yadav led India to a perfect Asia Cup 2025 campaign without losing any match. The team won every game convincingly under his captaincy throughout the entire tournament. Dhumal praised this achievement and called India the world’s best cricket team currently.
“Reaching the top is very easy, but maintaining that position is a very difficult task. India was the No. 1 team in T20s, and the way they performed brilliantly throughout the tournament, winning all their matches convincingly, I want to congratulate the Indian team for that,” Dhumal said.
He said staying at the top isn’t easy, but India managed it brilliantly. Pakistan simply couldn’t match India’s quality in any department during their recent meetings.
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BCCI Supports Government’s Bilateral Series Ban
Dhumal confirmed the Indian board fully backs the government’s Pakistan series ban decision. The BCCI will always align itself with national interests over cricket considerations here. He made it clear that bilateral cricket between these nations won’t happen anytime soon.
“See, it is the decision of the Government of India that we will not play a bilateral series with Pakistan, and we fully support this decision. In this matter, the BCCI will align with the Government’s stance. For the BCCI, the country comes first, and cricket comes next,” he said.
The IPL chief thinks this approach makes perfect sense given the current situation. Cricket alone can’t fix deeper problems between the countries right now anyway.
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Past Rivalry Doesn’t Exist Anymore
Dhumal mentioned how Pakistan’s old legends created genuine competition for India back then. Players today don’t bring that same competitive fire to matches against India anymore. The current Pakistani squad lacks the star power of previous generations completely.
“I believe the hype around India-Pakistan matches has been exaggerated. As has been said before, these contests are no longer what they once were. If you ask any Indian to name 24 Pakistani players, they probably won’t remember. In the past, names like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar would come to mind, but they are no longer there,” he added.
Dhumal wants everyone to celebrate India’s success rather than debate old rivalries unnecessarily.
