Tensions between India and Pakistan off the field spilled onto the cricket pitch as players refrained from handshakes before and after their Asia Cup clash in Dubai.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said match referee Andy Pycroft of Zimbabwe instructed both captains – India’s Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha – not to shake hands during the pregame coin toss on Sunday.
In a late-night statement in Urdu to domestic media, the PCB called Pycroft’s decision “against sportsmanship” and said team manager Naveed Akram Cheema filed a formal protest with the International Cricket Council. The ICC has not yet issued a public response.
“Utterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi wrote in a post on X. “Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports. Let’s hope future victories are celebrated by all teams with grace.”
Suryakumar, who hit the winning runs for India, did not wait for the customary handshakes with opposing players after the match before walking to the dressing room along with teammate Shivam Dube.
Agha reacted by skipping a post-match TV interview with former India international cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, a move Pakistan coach Mike Hesson described as a “follow-on effect.”
“We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game. We obviously are disappointed that our opposition didn’t do that,” Hesson said. The New Zealander, who was appointed to the Pakistan job in May, added: “We sort of went over there to shake hands and they’d already gone into the changing room. That was a disappointing way for the match to finish, and a match we were disappointed for the way we played, but we were certainly willing to shake hands.”
Sunday’s game was the first between the top cricket teams from India and Pakistan since the Pahalgam attack in April, when gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
India is the designated host of the eight-nation Asia Cup, but the Twenty20 tournament is being played in the United Arab Emirates because the Indian and Pakistani cricket teams do not play on each other’s territory.
There was also uncertainty over India’s participation in the Asia Cup until the government clarified that the cricketers would be allowed to compete against Pakistan in multinational tournaments.
Suryakumar said the Indian team was aligned with the Board of Control for Cricket in India and government instructions that players would not shake hands with Pakistan players.
“Our government and BCCI, we were aligned today,” Suryakumar said in a post-match news conference. “We came here to just play the game. We stand with all the victims of Pahalgam terror attacks, stand with their families, and express our solidarity.”
Both teams are likely to meet again in the Super 4 stage later this week if they finish first and second in Group A.
