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NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “linking” of India’s Asia Cup win with Operation Sindoor.”Sometimes I doubt if PM Modi has any knowledge of foreign policy and diplomacy. If we played, we should have played with sportsman spirit,” Congress leader Atul Londhe Patil told news agency PTI.His remarks came after PM Modi, following Team India’s victory over Pakistan in the Asia Cup final, posted on X: “Operation Sindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same – India wins! Congrats to our cricketers.”Patil added, “If Operation Sindoor is ongoing, then we shouldn’t have played. And if discussions are ongoing to normalise the situation, then sports can be a medium to improve it, but linking everything with Operation Sindoor is not right…” Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sakpal also reacted to the Prime Minister’s post. “It is clear from his tweet that, be it air, water, or sports, he brings politics into everything to polarise. We take pride in India’s victory, but we haven’t won the Asia Cup for the first time. There is a certain dignity of a country which he doesn’t maintain, and I regret this,” Sakpal said. India secured its second T20I Asia Cup title, and ninth overall including ODI editions, after chasing down 147 runs against Pakistan in the final in Dubai on Sunday. Tilak Varma scored an unbeaten 69 and shared crucial half-century stands with Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube.However, in an unprecedented development after the match, Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), declined to present the Asia Cup trophy to the Indian team after it refused to accept the silverware from him.
