By News18,Vivek Ganapathy

Copyright news18

Hardik Singh, the vice-captain of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team, took a dig at Pakistani cricketer Haris Rauf’s distasteful gestures during the Asia Cup 2025 cricket match between India and Pakistan, as the hockey star likened Rauf’s signs to the Green Stars’ sporting graph in recent times.
Rauf ruffled feathers with his ‘air-crash’ gesture, and Hardik stated that the pacer’s actions represented Pakistan’s sporting woes in recent times.
“Yes, there’s no doubt that the competition no longer exists. The graph is not going down, it’s just staying down,” Hardik said, mocking Rauf’s insensitive gesture during Pakistan’s Super 4 defeat to India.
Hardik added that despite the abundance of talent in the nation across the border, the lack of infrastructure in Pakistan remains their own undoing.
“I think their athletes are quite good, but they are not getting facilities. Like in 2014, they had won against us the last time. Since 2014, Pakistan has not won against India in hockey,” he added.
“So I think that in the last what, like twelve years? Yes, we didn’t lose a match,” Hardik continued.
When questioned about potential regrets over choosing hockey over cricket due to the significant pay difference between the sports, Hardik expressed satisfaction with his choice.
Hardik also touched upon the pay disparity between the sports of cricket and hockey, but stated that the feeling the sport of hockey instills is unparalleled.
“I think that what hockey has given us, no other game can give that,” the Indian vice-captain said.
“Because when in 2021 our Olympic medal came, I mean the wave that went across the whole country, that hockey medal came after forty years, and then back-to-back medals came. No other feeling can be like that