The rejection of the Indian team to shake hands with Pakistani players after the clash of the Asia Cup was not the principle – that was a small posture. The Snub felt like a cheap gesture that traded with the essence of cricket for optics. He projected outrage, but erode dignity.
India had a choice – standing outside the field, standing up over the spectacle, Grace over Petulance. By not taking advantage of the right choices, India has reduced both sport and statements.
If BCCi decided to boycott Pakistan directly, the world could read it as a clarity of conscience. Instead of deciding on the weapon to leave the message confused, the players burdened and the game itself decreased. Indian Suryakumar Yadav does not shake hands with Salman Agha in Asia Cup. (Reuters Photo)
The right intention, a bad act
The context is undeniable. India was still turning from the terrorist attack Pahalgam and the Earth wanted symbolic solidarity.
However, if the Criket Council in India (BCCI) really wanted to stand up, it was a moment for that before – boycotted Pakistani participation or refused to play.
After deciding to attack the accessories, the role of players should be simple: perform competitively and then extend the courtes that defines sport. Handshake embodies this principle.
By introducing a protest through players, BCCi blurred lines that were to remain different. He placed crickets in a position they never should have taken – forced to embody state policy. The coherent attitude would be if the administrators decided, not athletes who would dramatize. Instead, there was a billed gesture, nor a solid policy, nor the real solidarity, and after his furrow the spirit of the game suffered unnecessary damage.
Worse, it was not an impulsive act of emotion. The news explains that it has been foreseen and carefully choreographic. In throwing, both captains jumped the usual handshake before the match – the directive allegedly presented to the referee of the match to Pakistan in advance.
After the commanding seven goal victories, instead of crossing the pitch to share the usual handshake, Indian players quickly retreated and close the doorway door in the faces of confused and disappointed Pakistani players who waited for their greetings to extend. Pakistani Captain Salman Ali Agha replied in a quiet protest and boycotted the presentation after the match.
Later, Pakistani management formally filed complaints with the Referee, ACC and ICC, called the Snub Nesportsman and against the spirit of cricket.
ACC chief Mohsin publicly criticized India for “dragging politics into the game” and warned that sport should stand over such differences.
Indian captain Surya Kumar Yadav, worthy of the center of Slugfest, bravely arguing: “Some things are in front of the spirit of an athlete. We are standing with all the victims, and we devote this victory to our brave armed forces.”
Just no cricket
While the motive of the gesture is understandable, the refusal to shake hands came at the cost of mutual respect during the competition and camaraderie.
Sport is an arena where respect, courtesy and shared humanity should flourish despite external divisions. When players facing each other as opponents, teammates and colleagues leave these basic politeness, they suffer a bigger thing. Kricket’s universal attraction lies in his ability to overcome politics and reminds us that beyond flags and subtitles is a game played among people.
Celing the sorrow through sports wedding does not increase the cause; This reduces the very essence of the sporting conduct that cricket is proudly detaining.
A stream from fans and critics raises unpleasant questions. Is it for sports teams ethical to be discarded as a representative for political protest? Or is it disrupted by the cricket of the “spirit of sport”, which claims to be promoted? What does it mean when a sport to unite in competition becomes another tool of the department? How far can politics attack sport? These are questions that the administrators must answer, not athletes. Because if crickets are limited to Statecraft symbols, the essence of sport will be lost.
At the conference after the Surya Kumar Yadav match, he bravely answered questions and discouraged controversy by saying that all external noise had preserved.
It is irony that India, by refusing to shake her hand, forced the global cricket – and its own fans – to face the unstable connection between sport and politics. In the end, it politicized what was just an ordinary cricket game.
Theater and optics
The Asian Cup, intended as a cricket fitness festival, has become a stage of diplomatic drama, while Pakistan has gained the opportunity to demand the victim, even after routine diving on the pitch.
The match, neontrestrest Snoozefest, will be forgotten within a few days. But the Handshake, which has never happened, will remember longer than running or goals and remind both nations that sometimes what does not happen, speaks loudly of all.
The match becomes a foot note in another chapter of rivalry in India-Pakistan. What survives is the moment when the cricket was asked to carry the burden too heavy and collapsed under the weight.
– ends
Published:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
September 15, 2025
Tune
