PM Modi Calls Asia Cup Win ‘Operation Sindoor on Field’
India’s ninth title win sparks trophy boycott, geopolitical firestorm.
In a thrilling climax to the Asia Cup 2025, India clinched their ninth title with a nail-biting five-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday, September 28, 2025, at Dubai International Stadium, but it was the off-field drama—capped by a stunning trophy snub and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fiery “Operation Sindoor” analogy—that set the cricketing world ablaze. Modi, celebrating the triumph on X, likened it to India’s military success earlier this year: “#OperationSindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same - India wins! Congrats to our cricketers.”
The post, echoed by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, framed the victory as a symbolic extension of India’s January 2025 counter-terror offensive along the western border, where the Army obliterated multiple terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in retaliation for deadly attacks in Pahalgam.
The tournament, shadowed by Indo-Pak tensions, saw tempers flare from the start. A handshake controversy in the group stage—when Suryakumar refused to shake hands with Pakistan’s captain—drew PCB protests and ICC mediation. Pakistani players’ gestures, including a mocked “salaam” by one fielder, fueled the fire, with X posts from Indian fans branding it “disrespectful.”
The backdrop of Operation Sindoor—a surgical strike neutralizing terror camps after Pahalgam’s bloodshed—cast a long shadow, with Modi’s tweet framing the cricket win as a nationalistic coup, drawing 1.2 million views and memes galore, one dubbing it “Surgical Shot 2.0.”
Suryakumar, post-match, kept it diplomatic: “We played our hearts out; the win’s for India.” Tilak, the hero, added: “The pressure was insane, but we trusted our game.” Pakistan’s Babar Azam, gracious in defeat, admitted: “Spin got us; India deserved it.” But the boycott stole headlines, with PCB sources slamming it as “unsporting” and lodging an ICC complaint, while BCCI’s Devajit Saikia shot back, demanding the trophy’s swift dispatch to India.
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X erupted with polarized takes: Indian fans hailed the snub as a “patriotic stand,” while Pakistani users cried foul, one tweeting, “Win the cup, lose the class.” The episode, blending sport with geopolitics, underscores the Indo-Pak rivalry’s raw edge—where a boundary can sting like a bullet, and a trophy becomes a battleground. As India eyes the 2026 T20 World Cup, this Asia Cup saga proves one thing: When the Men in Blue face the Green Shirts, it’s never just cricket.
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