2025 Asia Cup: India Prove To Be Relentless, but So Does the Boycott Movement

2025 Asia Cup: In a match where India scripted history, most of the noise came from outside.

2025 Asia Cup: India defeated the UAE by 9 wickets.

(Photo: BCCI)

For lack of a better word, India’s 2025 Asia Cup campaign began in a ‘strange’ fashion.

The build-up to the game was subdued. A part of it stemmed from the opposition: the world’s best T20I side and defending champions were up against an unheralded United Arab Emirates outfit. In the two editions prior to this, India’s campaign began with a box office clash against Pakistan.

That, though, was only an insignificant part of the plot. With only four days left for the India-Pakistan clash — inevitably a highly anticipated affair owing to dearth of sporting action between the two nations, and the abundance of an urge of showcase jingoism — tickets were yet to be sold out. Ordinarily, finding takers for an India-Pakistan match is comparatively less of a challenge than finishing third in a two-horse race.

Boycott Group's Latest Member

For an anomaly to arise, causation has to be mentioned. In this case, it happens to be the dastardly attacks in Pahalgam on 22 April, which resulted in 22 fatalities.

Prior to the match, ‘#BoycottAsiaCup’ did rounds on social media. The bar is not very high, with boycotts being more par for the course than harmony among the Indian social channels. On the contrary, Asia Cup might even feel fortunate to join an elite list that has almost every entity under the sun — from Bollywood to Amazon, USA to China.

Yet, this one felt different. Harder to dismiss as routine outrage.

The stands bore testimony: empty rows where the usual sea of blue would have been. More striking was the silence outside, a lack of the usual chatter that precedes even the most one-sided India fixture. The boycott sentiment had not softened.

Is There a Precedent?

The government’s position has been clear: bound by international sporting frameworks, India cannot unilaterally avoid Pakistan in multi-nation events. Officials have even warned that blanket boycotts could compromise India’s Commonwealth Games and Olympic ambitions. Still, precedent exists. Back in 1986, India — then as now the defending Asia Cup champions — pulled out of the tournament in Sri Lanka, citing political tensions and anti-Tamil violence.

Four decades on, however, global economics, the commercial weight of cricket, and the power of public image make such withdrawals far less viable.

On the Game Itself

So, here we are, at the seventeenth Asia Cup, where India are aiming to win their ninth title. For all practical purposes, they should. The gulf is yawning. Not only are India the world champions and also the number one ranked team, but the second-best team from Asia — Pakistan — is as many as six places adrift, at seventh.

The cricket, in itself, did very little to excite.

India finally won a toss and opted to spoil what would have been a special batting display by choosing to bowl first. UAE scored 25 runs in the first three overs, but that was all about it.

Jasprit Bumrah’s yorkers, Kuldeep Yadav’s disguised googlies and Shivam Dube’s a-bit-of-this-and-a-bit-of-that were too lethal for the UAE batters, who were bowled out for 57.

Not that India did not try to extend UAE’s innings. In the 13th over, Junaid Siddique was found short of his crease by a Sanju Samson throw from behind the stumps, but almost as if to win a fairplay award like in the Indian Premier League, skipper Suryakumar Yadav withdrew the appeal. Siddique was sent packing immediately after.

UAE’s 57 is the lowest T20I total against India, beating New Zealand’s 66. And it was followed by the creation of another record, wherein India chased the total in all but 27 deliveries — 4.3 overs. It is the first occasion where the team had chased a total in T20I within the powerplay itself, with the previous fastest chase coming in 39 deliveries against Scotland.

Abhishek Sharma scored a 16-ball 30, Kuldeep Yadav picked up 4 wickets by conceding only 7 runs, and Shivam Dube got three. That was all about it, and I might have spent more time writing this than India required to secure a couple of points.

Amid ongoing calls of a boycott, the tournament is well and truly underway. Now, on to 14^th.