Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha has not forgotten the handshake controversy against India, stating that since he began playing competitive cricket, he has never seen a match end without a handshake and believes such incidents set a poor precedent for the spirit of the game. During the group-stage fixture of the tournament, India captain Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart and later also skipped the customary post-match handshake.
The no-handshake policy persisted in the Super 4 encounter as well, with Indian cricketers leaving the field after their victory and only exchanging handshakes with the umpires. Ahead of the Asia Cup final between India and Pakistan, Salman Ali Agha addressed the controversy, stating that he had never witnessed such behaviour in his life and emphasising that actions like these are not good for the spirit of the game.
“As far as handshakes are concerned, I’ve been playing professional cricket since 2007 at the under-16 level. I’ve never seen two teams not shaking hands during the match. Even my father is a big cricket fan, I’ve heard stories about the game from him. He never told me that anything like that happened in the past, that two teams playing cricket didn’t shake hands. I’ve always heard that no such thing has ever happened on a cricket field. India and Pakistan have played earlier as well when the relations between the two countries were even worse. Even then, there used to be handshakes. According to me, no handshakes are not good for cricket,” said Agha in the pre-match press conference.
The controversy around the handshake erupted on 14 September in the first of the three Asia Cup meetings between India and Pakistan, when India skipper Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands with Salman Ali Agha at the toss. The snub continued after the match as well, with India’s players going straight off the field and into the dressing room after their victory, foregoing the customary end-of-match handshakes. In protest, Agha boycotted the presentation ceremony and also did not attend the post-match press conference.
The two teams were facing each other for the first time since the Pahalgam terrorist attack earlier this year, where 26 Indian tourists lost their lives. India had retaliated with Operation Sindoor.
In his post-match chat with the broadcasters, Suryakumar Yadav said: “This is the perfect occasion (to state that) we stand by the victims of the families of Pahalgam terror attack. We express our solidarity. Want to dedicate the win to all our armed forces who showed a lot of bravery. Hope they continue to inspire us all and we give them more reasons on the ground whenever we get an opportunity to put a smile on their face.”
A day later, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, via an X post that he later deleted, said they had lodged a formal complaint against match referee Andy Pycroft with the ICC, claiming the official had requested the captains “not to shake hands during the toss” of the India-Pakistan encounter. Sources within the Indian team, however, stated that no such instruction had been conveyed to them by the match referee. Pakistan had also threatened to boycott their must-win group stage match against the UAE if Pycroft was not removed, but ultimately cooler heads prevailed, and Pakistan played the match with Pycroft as referee, winning and setting up a clash with India in the Super 4s. In that match as well, Surya and the Indian team refused to shake hands with the Pakistan players.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav was fined 30 percent of his match fee for his comments on the Pahalgam terror attack, a sanction that the BCCI has appealed against, while Pakistan’s Haris Rauf received a similar penalty in the ICC’s disciplinary action amid growing hostilities between the two sides.
Another Pakistan player, Sahibzada Farhan, was handed a warning for his gun-fire celebration during last Sunday’s Asia Cup match against India, issued by match referee Richie Richardson following a hearing on Friday.
Furthermore, Agha also responded to a question where a journalist asked him about Suryakumar Yadav reportedly not attending the captain’s photoshoot ahead of the final. The Pakistan skipper replied that it’s upto them if they want to attend.
“They can do whatever they want, we will just follow the protocol. Rest is upto them, if they wanna come, then come and if they don’t. We can’t do anything,” he added.
India and Pakistan are set to lock horns for the third time in the tournament on Sunday, September 28 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Men in Blue have beaten their arch-rivals in both meetings in the tournament so far and will look to continue their dominant record. On the other hand, Pakistan have only lost to India in the tournament and will look to avenge their last two losses against the arch rivals to clinch their third Asia Cup title.
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