Overview

• Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill shared a 105-run opening stand to set up India’s chase of 172 in the Super Four match in Dubai.
• Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif publicly backed Rauf’s “6-0” hand signal tied to Pakistan’s jet-downing claim, while the pacer’s wife posted that he “lost the game but won the battle.”
• Sahibzada Farhan celebrated his fifty with a gunshot-style bat motion and later defended it as a new expression, drawing criticism from Indian players and commentators.
• Reports detailed heated sledging by Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, with Abhishek Sharma saying he responded to “personal attacks” through aggressive batting.
• The tensions spilled into the SAFF U-17 Championship where a Pakistan player mimed tea-drinking and a plane crash after scoring, and India won the match 3-2.