Kapil Dev tells Suryakumar Yadav's India to 'do their job' versus Pakistan as boycott calls grow: 'Don't get distracted'

As the Group A fixture draws closer, calls continue to grow in India for the BCCI to pull the plug on the contest, keeping national sentiments in mind. However, recently, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia stated that the match would go on as the board is just following the order issued by the Sports Ministry, where permission was granted for playing against Pakistan in multilateral events.

Recently, in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian government came up with a policy under which the country would not have any bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan. However, the Indian teams won't be stopped from competing against the arch-rivals in multilateral events.

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Kapil Dev urged the fans and commentators not to go overboard. He stated that policy decisions should be left to the government, and players should just focus on going about their tasks on the field.

"The Indian players should stay focused solely on the game. They have a good team and must win," Kapil told reporters, according to news agency PTI.

"Players should concentrate only on their performance and not get distracted by anything else. Just go and win. The government will do its job, and the players should do theirs," the 66-year-old added.

India can potentially play Pakistan thrice in Asia Cup

If both India and Pakistan qualify for the Super 4s stage from Group A, then the two teams will once again meet on Sunday, September 21. This is not it as the arch-rivals can also play the finals if they finish at the top two spots in the Super 4s stage.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court refused to urgently list a Public Interest Litigation (PIL)seeking the cancellation of the Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan. The PIL stated that cricket should not take precedence over national interests.

However, Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi maintained that the match going on according to the schedule is not harmful.

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