The Asia Cup 2025 confrontation between India and Pakistan closed with more frost than friendship, because players left again without the usual handshake after the game.
India successfully chased a 172-run target to beat Pakistan by six wickets in the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya scored the winning points in the penultimate. Neither Indian nor Pakistani players stepped forward to shake hands.
The absence of the traditional handshake at the end of the game has attracted attention, whereby observers point to a lack of sportiness and gestricity between the two arch rivals.
Neither of the teams offered clarification, but the incident underlined the persistent tension around one of the brightest rivalry of Cricket.
Earlier, India captain Suryakumar Yadav chose not to shake hands with the Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha at the Worp for their game on Sunday.
After he won the throw, Suryakumar chose Bowl for the first time and walked straight on along the skipper from Pakistan to Ravi Shastri for the pre-match discussion, while Salman Ali Agha reflected the gesture.
India won the politically charged group A match with seven wickets last week, and their players refused to shake hands with their Pakistani opponents after the game.
Suryakumar devoted India’s victory to their forces, while several of his teammates took social media to express similar thoughts.
Furious Pakistan considered withdrawing from the tournament to protest against the referee Andy Pycroft, who, according to them, approved unsporting behavior by India.
They delayed their match against the United Arab Emirates with an hour on Wednesday and only continued the game after an apology from Pycroft and the certainty of a study by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The handshake snub comes in the background of a continuous row between the arch rivals, which emerged from the group stage collision, which attracted a lot of attention both and outside the field.
