India defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets in Asia Cup group game.
After the toss in the India v Pakistan match in Dubai, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart, Salman Ali Agha. The Indian players also did not shake hands with the Pakistani cricketers after India won by seven wickets.
Later, Suryakumar showed support for the families of the Pahalgam terror attack victims and dedicated the victory to the military.
Given Gambhir's prior remarks, Manoj Tiwary remarked that the coach may have been under pressure to avoid coming across as a hypocrite. Tiwary went on to say that the boycott of the handshake was wrong, particularly as India had first consented to play the match.
Given the escalating political tensions between the two teams, he pointed out that Gambhir has previously objected to playing against Pakistan. He conjectured that the gesture might have been influenced by social media criticism.
"He [Gambhir] was the one saying that we should not play against Pakistan at any given point until the issues are resolved... I think it was not the right thing to do [not shaking hands]. When you have decided to play the game against Pakistan... and also over there [during the press conference], Surya did shake hands with Salman Agha. So, when you've already shaken hands, what message are you trying to send to the people of India?" Tiwary told InsideSport.
"I thought so... there was a trending hashtag as well—'Boycott Asia Cup'... I thought the head coach might have felt the pressure about being somewhat hypocritical, considering that when he wasn't the head coach, he had made a lot of strong statements that he now can't defend. It might have triggered him to show support to the grieving families," he added.
India, who have qualified for the Super 4s stage, will now face Oman on Friday in Abu Dhabi in their final Group B match in the Asia Cup.