Former Pakistani cricket players Kamran Akmal and Basit Ali expressed their displeasure after Team India skipped the traditional post-match handshakes after their convincing victory in the Asia Cup group stage match.
In his post-match presentation address, India captain Suryakumar Yadav mentioned the Pahalgam terror assault and paused to pay tribute to the sacrifices and contributions made by the Indian Armed Forces.
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav declined to shake hands with Salman Agha after the toss. Later, after securing India's victory with a six, he and Shivam Dube made their way directly to the dressing room. The Pakistani players were left waiting for a handshake when the Indian team shut the doors of the dressing room.
Former Pakistani cricket players Kamran Akmal and Basit Ali nearly lost it on air on live TV after the game as they discussed their opinions on the handshake scandal.
"Kamran Akmal said that, for the first time in the history of cricket, he saw after the toss that the captains didn’t shake hands. Basit was saying, “Now what will happen? Will there be no handshake after the match either?” Apparently, after today’s match, the teams didn’t do any handshake. This is a very bad topic, bad for the game. Actions like these spoil the entire sport with such petty behavior," the show anchor said in the video going viral online from the ARY Sports show.
India's actions were questioned by Basit Ali, who said that players' refusals to shake hands set a bad example. He advised players to respect the spirit of the game and warned that such behavior would be criticized worldwide if it were to occur again at ICC events.
"This is the Asia Cup, right? What will happen when it’s an ICC event, the World Cup? If handshakes don’t happen, what will the ICC head do—because he’s Indian? Yes, I’m saying Jay Shah. It makes one think: if players don’t shake hands, do they expect to become heroes? Whoever understands cricket, knows the game, or writes about it will never appreciate such conduct—whether Pakistani, English, or Australian, nobody will appreciate this," he added.
In addition, Akmal expressed his opinion that the Indian players were compelled to avoid shaking hands with the Pakistani players.
"Today, I’ve seen that after the toss, there was no handshake; Bumrah stood at point, took a catch, and after the match, again, no handshake occurred. This isn’t helping Cricket get better. In my opinion, things will get worse—players’ reputations are being harmed by such acts. I truly consider this very petty behavior. The players were forced into it due to pressure," he added.
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