Dubai, Sep 14 (PTI) India captain Suryakumar Yadav and his Pakistan counterpart Salman Agha did not engage in the customary handshake during the toss for their Group A contest and even after the end of the match in the Asia Cup tie here on Sunday, drawing the attention of the cricket fraternity.
A handshake between captains of both teams during coin toss before matches in international cricket is a convention and not specified as a rule. On this occasion, both the leaders of Indian and Pakistan teams did not engage in one and also refused to make any eye contact.
Even after the end of the match, the Indian players refused to shake customary handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts, who came in a queue.
Both the captains submitted their respective team sheets to the match referee Andy Pycroft from Zimbabwe, spoke with the TV commentator Ravi Shastri, who was conducting the toss, and headed back in their respective directions.
The Pakistan skipper even boycotted the TV presentation ceremony.
India skipper Suryakumar made his stance clear why he avoided the ritual following the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack.
"We took a call as we came here to only play. We gave a proper reply," Suryakumar said after the match on the issue of not shaking hands.
"We are aligned with BCCI and government. (A) few things are ahead of sportsman spirit. We stand with all victims of Pahalgam terror attack and dedicate it to armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor," he added.
It is for the first time that arch-rivals India and Pakistan are facing off in a cricket match since the Pahalgam terror attacks earlier this year in April, which led to India launching retaliatory military action across the border in early May.
Last month, India announced a new sports policy under which its teams and athletes will not be allowed to engage in bilateral events with Pakistan, but can face them in multilateral international tournaments.
It also prohibited Indian athletes from travelling to Pakistan and refused to host teams and individual players from the neighbouring country.
In the lead up to this contest, the Indian camp maintained that the players were focussed on the game and were aware of the sentiments and emotions, which they had put behind them to approach the match professionally.
Both India and Pakistan won their respective opening matches of the tournament.
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
