Farhan's 'gun' celebration stokes row, says he has 'no regrets'

new delhi: Pakistan's Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan were accused of making inappropriate celebrations during Sunday's Asia Cup match against India in Dubai.

Farhan pretended to be pointing his bat like a gun and likened it to a "AK-47," while Rauf allegedly made allusion to the four-day military battle that occurred during Operation Sindoor.

The political debate over whether India should have boycotted Pakistan during the Asia Cup was also reignited by the controversial behavior of the two Pakistani cricket players.

During the second innings of the match that India won, Haris Rauf of Pakistan raised his fingers and signified "0-6" in reaction to jeers from the crowd. This gesture was taken on social media as Islamabad's unsubstantiated accusations of downing Indian fighter jets during the military conflict in May after Operation Sindoor.

No regrets

Playing the pantomime villain, Farhan said he doesn't "care about what people think" about the provocative gun-firing celebration.

India won the Super 4s match by six wickets to continue their stranglehold over the traditional rivals in multilateral tournaments, even as Farhan's gun-firing gesture in the air after reaching his half-century sparked a controversy.

"That celebration was just a moment at that time. I do not do a lot of celebrations after scoring 50. But, it suddenly came to my mind that let's do a celebration today. I did that. I don't know how people will take it. I don't care about that," Farhan said. "And the rest, you know, you should play aggressive cricket wherever you play. It is not necessary that it is India. You should play aggressive cricket against every team, like we played today," he added. The 29-year-old Pakistani struck a six off Axar Patel in the 10th over to reach his fifty and then held his bat like a gun, firing shots in the air.