Asia Cup India–Pakistan clash: Faisal Kapadia on watching the momentous finals from his Dubai Marina home

Dubai: Even before the cameras rolled at his living room at his kooky apartment in Dubai Marina, iconic Pakistani singer Faisal Kapadia wanted to talk about cricket.

The former Strings front man and Pakistani singer, who is gearing up for Umeed 2025 concert by The Citizens Foundation, leaned in with a smile, confessing: “I’m a mad cricket fan, like a crazy one”

That passion runs deep, but not in the way you’d expect from a celebrity. He prefers the comfort of his living room to the roar of a stadium.

“I don’t like to go to watch matches at stadiums because I am such a homebody,” he said.

For Faisal, the magic lies in the replays and the animated banter with his wife and eternal music muse, Seema.

“I love watching cricket and tennis, and I love watching it on TV with my wife Seema on our sofa, because there are so many angles, camera angles, and experts commenting and all,” he explained. The idea of watching the nail-biting overs with kebabs from his favourite neighbourhood joint is his sweet spot.

That doesn’t mean the atmosphere at home is calm. He grins when asked who keeps who steady.

“She is more hyper,” he admitted, painting a picture of Seema celebrating every boundary and agonising over every wicket. They do step out occasionally, but their life together is mostly insular.

“Me and Seema don’t socialise a lot too… It’s just me and her. We don’t have a lot of friends. It’s just us.”

On the game itself, Faisal is pragmatic: “I can’t say who will win, because it’s not a best of three like NBA Finals. It’s one day, one good day for one team, one bad day for one team. It can go either way for the teams. But it’s good to see Pakistan back in the game.”

Kapadia admitted that despite being a self-confessed “homebody” who usually avoids the chaos of stadiums, he made an exception earlier this week at the Asia Cup match when Pakistan made it to the finals against India.

“Yeah, sometimes we go for cricket match. Like yesterday, we went and we won. So we were… I’m excited, because I think Pakistan will do better from that point on,” he said with a grin.

True to form, he didn’t just watch the game — he even hung out with the Pakistan team after the match, soaking in the charged atmosphere. But at heart, he still prefers the comfort of his living room.

But what unsettles him is how politics bleeds into sport. He recalled being shaken when two countries refused to shake hands at the recent Asia Cup matches.

“I have never seen the two team declining to shake hands no matter how bad things got! It is a telling sign of the times we live in,” he said.

He even shared an anecdote of one of his trips to India - when things were calmer on the geopolitical front - of how he had posted a shot of him playing cricket in India on social media.

For Faisal, cricket is never just about wins and losses. It’s about joy, companionship, and the reminder that sport can bridge divides—if we let it.

Read our full interview with Faisal Kapadia on his upcoming concert with The Citizens Foundation, Umeed 2025, with Hasan Raheem and Shae Gill in Dubai soon!