Singed by India in Asia Cup final, Pak Captain claims ‘disrespect’ to team

DUBAI: Having been singed by the Indian team in the Asia Cup final, Pakistan captain Salman Agha was left whining about the alleged ‘disrespect’ shown to his team by India after they again refused to shake hands. Agha however, failed to mention that no rule in the book forces either team to shake hands before or after the game.

On three consecutive weekends, India trounced Pakistan as many times and walked away with the title with a five-wicket win in the Asia Cup final in Dubai on Sunday. Salman weighed in on the entire fiasco that started with the handshake row, during which India refused to engage in the long-standing tradition.

“What India have done this tournament is very disappointing. They’re not disrespecting us by not shaking hands, they’re disrespecting cricket. Good teams don’t do what they did today. We went to pose with the trophy on our own because we wanted to fulfill our obligations. We stood there and took our medals. I don’t want to use harsh words but they’ve been very disrespectful,” Agha said at the press conference after the final.

The controversy snowballed into multiple ICC hearings, and Suryakumar, as well as Haris Rauf, were fined 30 per cent of their match fees. Salman invoked the incident of Suryakumar shaking hands with him during the captain’s press conference, and claimed that if it was up to the Indian skipper he would have shaken hands with him before the toss.

“He shook hands with me in private at the start of the tournament. Both at the pre-tournament press conference and when we met in the referee’s meeting. But when they’re out in the world in front of the cameras, they don’t shake our hands. I’m sure he’s following the instructions he’s been given, but if it were up to him, he’d shake hands with me,” Agha added.

Even after the final, drama continued to unfold off the field, with the post-match presentation being delayed by 90 minutes. Eventually, the presentation began, and the India players turned up to collect the individual awards. During the entire ceremony, Naqvi and the Pakistan players were booed by the Indian fans present at the venue.

Kuldeep Yadav, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma received their individual awards from other dignitaries on stage, while Salman accepted the runners-up cheque from PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. The Indian players did not acknowledge Naqvi. The ACC chairman didn’t applaud the Indian players who came up to receive their personal accolades.

Simon Doull, the presenter for the host broadcaster towards the end of the ceremony, confirmed that, “I have been informed by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen this happen. Whatever happened in this tournament was very bad, and I hope it stops at some stage because it’s bad for cricket. Everything that happened today was a consequence of all that happened [before]. Of course, the ACC president will give the trophy to the winners. If you won’t take the trophy from him, how will you get it?” Agha added.

Eventually, the speculations cleared up after it was confirmed by the BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia. He disclosed that India had refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy during the presentation ceremony from ACC Chairman Naqvi, who also serves as Pakistan’s interior minister.

“We have decided not to take the Asia Cup 2025 trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan. So we decided not to take it from him. But that does not mean that the gentleman will take away the trophy with him, along with the medals. So it is very unfortunate and unsportsmanlike, and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible,” Saikia told ANI. (ANI)