Aasha Khosa/New Delhi

The spectacular clash between India and Pakistan in the opening match between them for the Asia Cup in Dubai surely turned into a high-level emotional saga for the cricket fans in the two countries yet the usual acrimony and high decibel negative campaign and social media trolling was, thankfully, missing this time.

For India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in congratulating Team India for its victory. He took to the Twitter to wish the team:

#TeamIndia put up a spectacular all-round performance in today’s #AsiaCup2022 match. The team has displayed superb skill and grit. Congratulations to them on the victory.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2022

People in many cities celebrated the Indian victory as this video from Maharashtra posted by thenews agency ANI suggests:

#WATCH | Celebrations in Maharashtra's Nagpur after India's victory over Pakistan in #AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/9RjAou3QD3

— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2022

From Jammu and Kashmir images of celebration are pouring in. This video showing a midnight street celebrations with national flags, dancing by citizens over drumbeats and firecrackers lighting up the skyline, was shared on Twitter.

This is #Jammu right now after #India's Victory over #Pakistan 👇👇👇
🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳#AmazingJammu 🇮🇳❤️ pic.twitter.com/qDPEVNGIL6

— THE BONE DOCTOR OF J&K Dr Vikas Padha🇮🇳 (@DrVikasPadha) August 28, 2022

Reports of celebration are also coming from Kashmir Valley.

Interestingly, this time it was the Jammu and Kashmir Police that asked people to celebrate the spirit of sports and had taken precaution to not leave space for unpleasant incidents to happened due to the Indo-Pak cricket match.

The Kashmir Zone Police had issued an advisory on its eve of the clash in Dubai asking journalists not to peddle fake news that had potential to create a law and order situation.

“Sporting events are a test of dedication, sportsmanship and work ethics of the participating teams. And such events are enjoyed by millions across the world,” Srinagar police advisory said.

In Pakistan, the match was not hyped much as the country is grappling with a serious flood situation with half of its population feeling the heat of the deluge. Besides, the country is also mired in the economic woes as tomato is said to have touched Rs 500 a kilo.

Also Read: Asia Cup 2022: Hardik, Jadeja hits make India trounce Pakistan

However, to add drama to the social media meme stories of the match Pakistan’s former minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhary of the PTI said on their team’s defeat that it was not the fault of the players but of the “imported government” (Read Shahbaz Sharif’s government).

ٹیم کا قصور نہیں امپورٹڈ حکومت ہی منحوس ہے #IndiaVsPakistan

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) August 28, 2022

The social media creative people also went in an overdrive to make fun of the Pakistan’s wicketkeeper Rizwan, who was made frequent appeals to the Umpire against India.  

Pakistani newspapers gave matter of fact headlines and also praised their team for its good performance