Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan performed brilliantly against India in the Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai. He scored 58 runs in just 34 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes.
But his celebration stole the spotlight. After reaching his half-century, he held his bat like an AK-47 and gestured as if to fire.
This video spread like wildfire on social media. Some fans enjoyed it, but most, especially in India, criticized it.
Controversial Celebration Creates a Stir
During the match, Farhan hit a six off Axar Patel in the 10th over, completing his 50. Then, he immediately turned towards the dugout and posed as if to fire a gun.
This shocked even commentators and sparked outrage on social media.
This was because, given the deaths of Indian tourists in the Pahalgam attack a few months earlier, the gesture seemed even more sensitive.
Politics also jumped in. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj attacked the government, saying that playing cricket with Pakistan was wrong.
Old boycott debates resurfaced. India had defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets in the group stage, but Pakistan lost this match by 6 wickets, chasing a target of 171 runs.
Carefree Farhan’s statement
Farhan was asked about this celebration at a press conference on Monday.
He laughed and said, “I think if you talk about sixes, you will see a lot of these in the future. And that (celebration) was just a moment at that time. I don’t celebrate much after scoring 50. But, it suddenly came to my mind that let’s do a celebration today. I did that. I don’t know how people will take it. I don’t care about that.”
He then spoke about cricket, “And the rest, you know, you should play aggressive cricket wherever you play. It’s not necessary that it’s India. You should play aggressive cricket against every team, like we played today.”
At present, the ICC or ACC have not taken any action, but this issue is likely to remain hot.
