Asia Cup: India vs Pakistan: Image of Fakhar Zaman signing autographs for India fans goes viral

When it comes to India-Pakistan rivalry, the intensity is unprecedented. Be it on the cricket field or outside of it, tempers flare and often, cricketers get overwhelmed by the emotions. Recent past has shown that Pakistan have been more vulnerable to this and that's possibly why they have struggled to beat India in these fixtures. Suryakumar Yadav's side have mentally been able to switch off from the non-cricketing issues when on the field and that's what has helped them to dominate their opponents. The spice levels for the India-Pakistan contest on Sunday (September 21) have gone over the roof after the events of last week.

Amidst all the drama, there was a heartwarming scene at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. On reaching the venue, Fakhar Zaman was about to enter when he spotted a few Indian fans waiting to get his autograph. The left-hand batter promptly obliged and was seen interacting with the fans as he patiently signed autographs for them. Given the current political tensions between India and Pakistan, and the cricketing deadlock as well, these images have come as a wave of positivity. Not surprisingly, the internet got buzzing with Pakistani fans in particular using this example to maintain that sports and politics shouldn't be mixed together.

This stance from Pakistan has been highlighted since September 14 when India beat Pakistan in the league game of the ongoing Asia Cup. At the toss of that game and after the match, Indian players didn't shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts. This triggered polarised reactions across the globe and Pakistan were livid with the whole incident. Since then, there have been a few episodes of drama with PCB requesting the ouster of match referee Andy Pycroft, a request that was turned down by the ICC. Not just that, Pycroft will be officiating in the second India-Pakistan game as well.

Visuals from Pakistan's practice session saw the players, especially Haris Rauf trying to make political gestures towards the fans that had come to watch the players. The gestures of '6-0' were constantly used by the players as a taunt. Pakistan's army had recently claimed to have shot down six Indian fighter jets during the recent India-Pakistan tensions and Rauf's taunts were related to that. While Pakistan themselves were complaining about India's no-handhake protocol last week and blamed their rivals for bringing politics into sports, it seems like that they themselves are intent on doing this for the rematch fixture.

Nevertheless, gestures like the one from Zaman indicates that there is still hope for sports to survive as a separate entity instead of being a tool for politics. But again, the antics from Rauf suggest that Pakistan as a team are thinking of responding to India's no-handshake gesture with something equally or more political.