DUBAI: The India-Pakistan tensions have had no impact on the bonhomie within the UAE cricket team, which is a mix of expatriates from the two countries, insisted skipper Muhammad Waseem as he ducked queries on their rather dramatic and delayed Asia Cup clash against Pakistan here.
The UAE cricket team has an equal number of players of Indian and Pakistani origin with Simranjeet Singh, Rahul Chopra, Harshit Kaushik, Dhruv Parashar, and Alishan Sharafu on one side and Multan-born skipper Waseem, Haider Ali, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Rohid, and Asif Khan making the other half.
The team is like a family, said Waseem despite the tense relations between the two countries, who recently had a military showdown following the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 Indian lives.
Asked if the ongoing tensions has had any effect on the inter-personal relationships within the team or if there have been any conversations in the change room, Waseem replied in the negative.
"No, we are not talking about that (Indo-Pak tensions) as we play a lot of cricket together. We are like a family here. There is no Indian and no Pakistani. We play for UAE team. We play as a family and live as a family," he said.
The frosty relations caused a stir at the ongoing tournament when India skipper Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands with his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha at the toss of their match on Sunday.
There were no pleasantries exchanged even after the game as the Indians took the decision to show solidarity with Pahalgam attack victims.