Indian skipper Suryakumar plays down advantage talks

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav played down the talks of having an edge over Pakistan in their Super Four match of the Asia Cup on Sunday.

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India defeated Pakistan by seven wickets in their round robin match, which also entailed the infamous handshake controversy. The Indian team refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterpart, citing the Pahalgam attacks as the reason. Match referee Andy Pycroft was also in the centre of the handshake row.

He reportedly asked Pakistan captain Salman Agha not to shake hands with Suryakumar after the toss.

PCB demanded the removal of Pycroft from the elite panel of referees but ICC, which is headed by Jay Shah - son of powerful home minister Amit Shah - refused to fulfill Pakistan's demand and he only officiated in their next match against the UAE.

India completed their round robin phase unbeaten with a nervy win against Oman in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

After posting 188/8, India restricted Oman to 167/4 in their last group game to remain unbeaten. India played with a depleted bowling attack sans Jasprit Bumrah.

Suryakumar used eight bowlers against Oman and did not come out to bat and gave all his batsmen a chance for some match practice ahead of the important game against the arch-rivals.

Before Oman's match, India had barely batted for 20 overs in their first two games against UAE and Pakistan combined.