India U19 captain Lakshya Raichandani has defended his team's animated celebrations after beating Pakistan in the Asia Cup final, calling them normal emotions after a tense contest.India players were seen celebrating animatedly in front of Pakistan players. (ScreenGrab: SonyLIV)India captain Lakshya Raichandani was anxious and eagerly waiting to see what would happen in the U19 Asia Cup final against Pakistan. As soon as his side did the unthinkable and Mohit Ulva hit the winning runs, he saw his players run onto the field as the emotions was pouring out.The Indian players were seen being a little too animated in the way they celebrated the win, with some of them being right in the faces of their Pakistan counterparts and fans.
The celebrations and conduct of the Indian stars have since been scrutinised, with some slamming for not upholding the sportsman spirit.But Lakshya doesn't see an issue with it.The Indian captain understands that it was all part of the theatre that is an India vs Pakistan match. His side was on the losing end of the group stage match between the two in the tournament.
But when they were able to edge past their arch-rivals in the final, Lakshya felt that the emotions were coming out naturally, which he felt was completely normal. "The group stage loss definitely played a role. But as you know, India-Pakistan matches are always tense and aggressive.
We had put in so much effort to win the final, and the emotions naturally came out. I think it was a normal celebration," said Lakshya to Sports Today. "We had lost a match earlier, and we were hungry to win this one.
As I said, the emotions came out. The celebration was normal.
The boys perhaps over-dramatised it a little."'I LET THEM CELEBRATE' BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had said that the team should be allowed to celebrate, and the same sentiment was echoed by Lakshya. The Indian captain revealed that he didn't step in to stop any of his teammates and let them enjoy the moment."I didn't do anything.
I let them celebrate. It was a good feeling.
You can't stop them after winning. It was a good memory and a special feeling," said Lakshya.Despite soaking in the celebrations, it did come at a cost for Lakshya.
His social media account was disabled for posting the celebration video, which left the Indian captain surprised."There isn't much I can say. The celebration was normal, and the emotions came out.
It was a normal and emotional moment. The match was an emotional rollercoaster.
We just wanted to play calmly, and hopefully, we managed to do that.""I felt it wasn't that serious or aggressive for my account to be disabled. It was normal, and I didn't feel it was something that warranted disabling my account," said Lakshya.- Ends