Team India players and support staff members refused to engage in a customary handshake with their Pakistani counterparts during the Asia Cup 2025 fixture at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (September 14).

The game was held amidst heightened tensions between the two nations following the Pahalgam terror attack and the retaliatory Operation Sindoor.

The pre-match atmosphere seemed quite tense. At the toss, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav pointedly refused to shake hands or acknowledge his Pakistan counterpart Salman Agha.

After hitting the winning runs, Suryakumar walked back to the dressing room alongside non-striker Shivam Dube without exchanging post-match pleasantries with the opposition.

Moreover, the Indian captain dedicated the seven-wicket win over Pakistan to the country’s armed forces and said the national team stood in solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.

The handshake gate seems to have hurt the Pakistan cricket team’s ego, prompting PCB to lodge a complaint with the ICC and also demanding match referee Andy Pycroft’s removal. According to reports, the Pakistan board has even threatened to pull out of the continental event if its demand for Pycroft’s sacking is not fulfilled.

Now, former Pakistan skipper Misbah ul Haq has also launched a scathing attack on the Indian team, citing that the Men in Blue “lost grace” by their gesture. He also claimed that the motive of playing cricket was different than what the Indian team had made it out to be by their actions.

In the post-match presser, Suryakumar explained his team’s actions by saying: “I feel few things in life are ahead of sportsmen’s spirit also.”

“There are very strict regulations in the sport for these kinds of things (political gestures from players or teams). You see, if you bring any political statement or even a gesture to the cricket field, there are very heavy penalties, and you can even get a ban as a player. So I think it’s absolutely not allowed, and one word was very important in this tweet from Mohsin Naqvi: grace. Whoever is doing this is just losing grace,” Misbah said while speaking on PTV Sports.

He added: “Where India should have given an answer to something, you should have responded there. This is a cricket field. Why are you mixing those things? So this is a strange mindset that no one in the world can understand. What are they basically trying to do? It’s like, where should they vent their anger? This is not on! What is sports, basically? You go, you play, it’s a test of your skills. That’s it. A cricketer, or any player on the field, goes to entertain the crowd. Their purpose is completely different. You are connecting it with everything, which I think is not the correct way to go about it. It’s very disappointing, and it’s not understandable what they are trying to do.”

The arch-rivals may face each other twice more in the ongoing Asia Cup, provided both teams qualify for Super 4s and final.