The score said 3-0. The picture said something else, writes Jasriman Kaur

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What is it that stays with us after a cricket match is over?

Sometimes, it is the six. Sometimes, the catch. Sometimes, the scoreboard.

And then, once in a while, it is something that has very little to do with the score.

India completed a 3-0 T20I sweep against Afghanistan in Delhi on September 17. Abhishek Sharma’s extraordinary 30-ball century and India’s 127-run victory will understandably make the headlines.

But the picture that stayed with me was a quieter one.

Shreyas Iyer, the India captain, making room for Ibrahim Zadran, his Afghan counterpart, during the trophy celebrations.

The trophy was India’s. The series was India’s. Yet Iyer did not make the moment only about India.

I have grown up playing cricket with my brothers and cousins and I know how quickly a friendly game can turn competitive. We wanted to win. We argued over runs and wickets. We celebrated when we got the better of each other and, yes, sometimes sulked when we lost.

But once the game was over, it was over. We were still family.

Maybe that is why I notice these little things in cricket.

As someone who has followed the game for years, I love the intensity of a good rivalry. The banter, the nerves, the last-over finishes, the celebrations. That is what makes sports so addictive.

But somewhere along the way, we seem to have confused rivalry with hostility.

A stare becomes a headline. A celebration becomes a provocation. A defeat becomes something to mock. It does not have to be that way.

Iyer’s gesture reminded me of Afghanistan’s first Test against India in 2018. India won by 262 runs, but the teams came together after the match, with handshakes, hugs and a joint photograph.

Different players. Different format. Eight years apart. Yet the same message.

You can beat someone and still respect them. You can celebrate your win without rubbing the loss in. And perhaps most importantly, you can walk off the field remembering that there is a person behind the jersey.

That is what I liked about the Iyer-Zadran moment.

He did not give away the trophy. He did not change the result. He simply made space.

And sometimes, making space is enough.

Especially now, when every sporting moment is quickly turned into content. Rivalries are amplified, fans are pushed further into their corners and the noise around the game can sometimes become louder than the game itself.

As an ardent cricket fan, I would hate for that to happen.

The score will always matter. Winning will always matter. But so should the way we win.

Perhaps that is why the Friendship Cup felt like more than a name.

The incident also made me think of all the rivalries we watch with our hearts on our sleeves. Afghanistan. Pakistan. Australia. England. Every contest has its own history, its own emotion, its own edge.

I hope we never lose that edge. I just hope we never lose the respect either.

And yes, I hope we can see more of that same camaraderie even in the fiercest rivalries, including India-Pakistan. The competition can stay fierce. The emotions can stay high. But after the final ball, there can still be room for a handshake, a smile and a little respect.

Because imagine a cricketing world where the fiercest rivals can still shake hands, share a photograph and acknowledge each other after the final ball.

That would not make the rivalry smaller.

It would make the game bigger and just a little more human.