India-Pakistan 'Sporting Brotherhood' Impresses Coach Matthew Hayden

Dubai: Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has been impressed by the sporting brotherhood on display after Pakistan beat India to break its run of 12 losses in World Cup contests between the arch-rivals.
India captain Virat Kohli embraced Mohammad Rizwan soon after Pakistan romped to a 10-wicket win in the Twenty20 World Cup game on Sunday to start its Super 12 campaign.
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, now a mentor with the team, smiled as he spoke with Pakistan players including captain Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik and fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani soon after the game ended.
“The thing that inspired me the most out of the performance was the fantastic sporting brotherhood,” Hayden, an intensely competitive former Australia opening batsman now working with Pakistan's T20 squad, said in a video message from Dubai.
The political tension between the subcontinental neighbors has resulted in the countries avoiding bilateral cricket series since Pakistan visited India in 2012-13 and played a short limited-overs series. However, they compete against each other regularly in the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments.
Hayden said the way the Pakistan and Indian players came together was a good example “of how we should treat each other as people”.
“That's the role of sport, so it's beautiful to see those moments where MS Dhoni is holding court with a few of the (Pakistan) players and Virat Kohli and (Rizwan), you know, in brotherhood, joining hands after there were heated battles in the middle.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board appointed Hayden as a batting consultant and South African Vernon Philander as a bowling consultant for the T20 World Cup after head coach Misbahul Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis stepped down.
Hayden joined the squad in the United Arab Emirates, following his stint as a commentator in the Indian Premier League which ended two days before the World Cup began on Oct 17.

'Great humility'
Following Pakistan's record-breaking win, Babar reminded his teammates to stay focused on winning the World Cup instead of getting carried away with the win over India.
“Great humility from our perspective inside the change rooms, not getting carried away too much with the celebrations, but just this great humility, this great sense of spirit and great sense of purpose moving into the next game against New Zealand,” he said.
Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi's burst in his opening two overs provided Pakistan with the key wickets of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and helped restrict India to 151-7 in Sunday's match. Afridi also went on to take the wicket of top-scorer Kohli in his return spell.
For Hayden, it was a prime example of what Pakistan's pacemen are capable of producing.
“Pakistan has velocity in abundance, not just here but also back home that aren't celebrated in this World Cup,” he said. “Shaheen really is that one leader within the bowling group [...] nothing beats velocity, mixed up with some skill.” – AP
Images adds: The Pakistan cricket team achieved last night what few thought they would — they beat India in a World Cup match by 10 wickets. There were a lot of firsts in the T20 match — the first time Pakistan beat India in a World Cup fixture, the first time Pakistan won a match by 10 wickets and the first time India lost by 10 wickets. But the match also taught us the joys of sportsmanship.
Along with congratulations and exclamations of joy, Twitter was full of memes and jokes but it was also full of videos and pictures of Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan and Virat Kohli sharing a moment after the match.
The Indian captain shook the Pakistan captain's hands and gave Rizwan a big hug. The moment cemented itself in the hearts of cricket fans as one celebrating a shared love of the game.
Kohli's show of sportsmanship proved to fans that at the end of the day, a game well played is a game well played regardless of who won.
Fans wanted politics to be left out of the conversation.
In fact, many were just happy to see Azam and Kohli in a single frame.
They also spotted another heartwarming moment on the pitch when former captain MS Dhoni spoke to Azam, Imad Wasim, Shahnawaz Dahani and Shoaib Malik.
Dahani also posted a selfie with Dhoni on Twitter, saying he wouldn't forget the excitement of meeting one of his favourite players.
For many Pakistani cricket players (and fans) Kohli and Dhoni are legends and meeting them is like meeting your heroes. That the players were so gracious after losing is a true sign of sportsmanship.
Win or lose, at the end of the day, mutual respect is of far greater value than any scorecard. There were thousands of people on Twitter praising not only the way the players played the game but the way they acted after it was over.
While we're very glad that Pakistan won (and what a victory!), we're even gladder to see the respect the players had for each other on and off the field. We hope we get to see touching moments like these throughout the T20 World Cup and beyond.