“There has been no gentleman-ness in the game, I am ashamed” - Ex-Indian cricketer after Asia Cup 2025 Final

Former Indian cricketer Syed Kirmani has slammed the current generation of cricketers for their on–field antics and rude gestures, stating that there has been no gentlemanliness in the game of cricket.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, Kirmani also asserted that he has been receiving constant messages from his friends on the Indian team about playing politics on the field. Moreover, he added that he is ashamed to listen to such comments. 

“The way cricket is being played all around - I won’t like to take the names of the countries — by and large, there has been no gentleman-ness in the game. There have been very rude, arrogant gestures on the field. I’m not referring to only the Asia Cup,” Syed Kirmani said in an interview with ANI.

“I was receiving messages like ‘Indian team ko kya ho gaya hai? Yeh kya politics chal rahe hain on the field? (What has happened to the Indian team? what is this politics that are being played out on the field?)’ I’m ashamed to listen to the comments from my friends. My friends say, ‘Your time was different. You played like gentlemen. But what has happened to the current era of cricketers globally?'”

Furthermore, Kirmani also noted that politics and sports shouldn’t be mixed in general, adding that no sportsman should dedicate the winning amount or the match fee for political causes. Additionally, he also talked about the camaraderie the Indian team used to share with the Pakistani team during his playing days.

“It is very depressing to me the way things are going on in the sporting field, particularly in cricket. It is not the right thing that has happened. Politics should not enter sports in general. Leave politics behind. Whatever has transpired away from the sporting field, leave it there itself. Don’t relate it to your winning amount or whatever you are earning from this great game of cricket. Don’t dedicate it politics (political causes). In our time, cricketers had such wonderful camaraderie. Pakistani players coming to India, us going to Pakistan. What hospitality, what love, what affection. I have to put my head down as a cricketer,” Kirmani concluded.

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