Pakistan Cricket Board lodges formal protest against Indian team, match referee over handshake controversy

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has lodged an official protest against the Indian team following the handshake controversy during their Asia Cup encounter at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

The two teams were meeting for the first time since the barbaric April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.

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There were calls for a boycott of the match back home with people slamming the BCCI and the Indian government for playing with Pakistan, a country involved in the Pahalgam attack. Those sentiments also reflected in the empty stands as well.

Amid all this, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav skipped the customary handshake at the toss with Pakistani captain Salman Agha.

Surya, after hitting the winning six, shook hands with Shuvam Dubey at the other end and went straight to the dressing room without exchanging handshakes with Pakistani players.

During the match presentation, Surya dedicated the victory to the Armed Forces and said the entire team stands with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Pakistani captain Agha skipped the match presentation.

Speaking about the unusual episode, Pakistan coach Mike Hesson revealed that his players were ready to shake hands with Indian players.

“Obviously, we were ready to shake hands at the end of the game. We were disappointed that our opposition didn’t do that. We sort of went over there to shake hands and they were already going to the changing room. That was a disappointing way for the match to play. In a match that we were disappointed in the way we played, but certainly we were willing to go and shake hands,” he was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Hesson also revealed that Agha’s absence from the post-match presentation was a result of the Indian players’ stance.

Later, Pakistan team manager Naveed Akram Cheema registered a protest against the Indian team’s “inappropriate behaviour”, reported Pakistani English daily Dawn.

Cheema also registered a formal protest against the match referee’s behaviour. As per the Dawn report, match referee Andy Pycroft had asked the captains not to shake hands during the toss.

The India skipper defended not shaking hands with Pakistani players, saying “a few things in life are ahead of sportsman spirit.”

He said that the decision to play Pakistan was taken by the government and the BCCI.

“Our government and BCCI, we were aligned. Together, we came here, we took a call and I feel we came here just to play the game. And we gave the proper reply,” Surya added.