'It Always Feels Good When You Defeat A Good Team'

'We cannot deny that Pakistan also played brilliantly.'

While India's T20 Captain Suryakumar Yadav's nationalistic posturing has gone viral, Kuldeep Yadav's mature take on India's Asia Cup quietly flew under the radar.

The Asia Cup 2025 began with no handshakes between India and Pakistan players after the group stage match. Suryakumar then dedicated the victory to the Indian armed forces saying, his team stood in solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.

After winning the Asia Cup final, Suryakumar's India refused to take the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the chairman of the Asian Cricket Council, who also happens to be Pakistan's interior minister and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman.

A day later, SKY praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his support, terming the latter's tweet 'Front Foot pe batting'.

Amid all this drama, some players of the Indian team spoke to other sections of the media on return from the UAE and one among them was left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep.

India's record-breaking bowler in the tournament, Kuldeep, speaking to NDTV, praised his team-mates for their contributions to the win and deconstructed India's Asia Cup win thus: 'It feels very good when we perform for the team. There's nothing bigger in this world than contributing to the team's victory.

'It was a good tournament for me. Everyone saw how Abhishek Sharma also performed, and even Tilak played a brilliant knock, like he did in the IPL. However, there are certain things that often go unnoticed like Axar Patel's role with the ball, Sanju Samson's partnership with Tilak, and two important wickets taken by Varun Chakaravarthy,' said Kuldeep.

'So, we can say that it was a team effort that helped us clinch the Asia Cup title.'

He then duly credited Pakistan for putting up a fight in the final.

'It always feels good when you defeat a good team. We cannot deny the fact that they also played brilliantly. We were three down for just 20 runs, and they had a terrific start with the bat,' Kuldeep added.

'But we must appreciate the comeback made by our team. All the players contributed equally to the win.'