Pakistan have accused India of lacking sportsmanship after their cricketers refused to shake hands either before or after an Asia Cup 2025 match in Dubai on Sunday.
The match between the two great cricketing rivals was played out in front of an unusually sparse crowd due to calls for a boycott in India amid heightened tensions between the two South Asian nations.
Those geopolitical tensions were brought to bear on the field with the Indian and Pakistani captains failing to shake hands at the toss. At the end of the match – which played out as a routine seven-wicket victory for India – the Indian batsmen vacated the wicket and the whole team walked off instead of waiting to shake hands with Pakistan’s fielders.
Pakistan’s cricket board later claimed it was referee Andy Pycroft who had asked the captains to skip the pre-match ritual. The board said that Pakistan’s team manager Naveed Akram Cheema had filed a formal complaint against Pycroft.
The referee was yet to respond to the complaint.
The low attendance reflected lingering hostility from a brief military conflict in May that was triggered by India conducting airstrikes across the border following a terror attack in the disputed Himalayan valley of Kashmir the previous month.
India had blamed Pakistan for sponsoring the attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam that left 26 people dead, mostly Hindu tourists. Islamabad rejected the allegation and called for an independent investigation.
The Indian airstrikes that followed, dubbed “Operation Sindoor”, were met with artillery, drone and missile attacks by Pakistan, bringing the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of all-out war.
Fighting ended after four days when American president Donald Trump announced that the warring countries had reached a ceasefire.
India-Pakistan cricket matches usually attract large crowds and tickets are sold out in advance. Not this time: empty seats were visible everywhere at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium despite its rather modest capacity of 25,000.
India won the match but their players refused customary handshakes with the Pakistan team, a decision reportedly endorsed by the Indian cricket board and coaching staff.
In cricket, it’s customary for on-field players from the batting team to shake hands with the fielding side and umpires after the end of the innings. It is also standard practice for the entire batting team to shake hands with their opponents after the match.
No handshakes after the game..
— Nibraz Ramzan (@nibraz88cricket) September 14, 2025
Pakistan waited for team India to come for the handshake, but they never came. #Shame. #INDvPAK #Asiacup2025 pic.twitter.com/usRlEwk32X
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav called the victory a “perfect return gift” to his country, dedicating it to the victims of the Kashmir terror attack and to the armed forces.
“Our government and the BCCI were aligned on the decision to play this match,” he said, referring to the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
“We came here just to play the match and gave them a perfect reply. A few things in life are above the sportsman’s spirit,” he said. “We stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and with their families, and dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor.”
In the post match Press Conference on "No Handshake" with Pakistani players,SKY said:
— Saurav Trivedi (@Auravauraa) September 14, 2025
"We came here to play the game and we gave them the perfect reply" pic.twitter.com/skk6Mt0XW4
The conduct of the Indian players led to widespread criticism that they had allowed politics to overshadow a sporting event.
Pakistan’s coach Mike Hesson lamented the missed gesture of sportsmanship. “We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game, but our opposition did not do that,” he said. “We sort of went over there to shake hands and they had already gone into the changing room.”
As an Indian, I am so ashamed to see our team refusing to shake hands at the end of the match, something that has never happened before in the history of cricket. I wish I was never born in this small nation. #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/kMF820R46i
— Vikram Singh (@VikramSingh397) September 14, 2025
Mohsin Naqvi, chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board and chairman of the Asian Cricket Council, said it was “utterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship today”. “Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports,” he said.
Pakistani captain Salman Agha did not participate in the post-match presentation, with Hesson explaining that his decision was a reaction to India’s refusal to shake hands.
“That was a disappointing way for the match to finish. In a match that we were disappointed in the way we played, but certainly we were willing to go and shake hands,” he said.
Suryakumar Yadav mentions Pahalgam terror attack in the post-match interview.
— A D V A I T H (@advaithspeaks) September 14, 2025
Dedicates the victory to the Indian Armed Forces later No Handshake With Pak team. Jai Hindi🇮🇳 🫡 #INDvsPAK #PKMKBForever #IndianCricket
pic.twitter.com/1Jz1mjLCb7
Ahead of the game, there had been calls in India for a boycott. A regional party called Shiv Sena even organised protests in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu, while Aam Aadmi Party’s members demonstrated in Delhi.
Gaurav Gogoi, a senior member of the opposition Congress party, criticised Narendra Modi’s government for proceeding with the match, alleging that it showed the ruling BJP had “chosen profit over compassion”.
He called it a “betrayal” of national sentiment and a “grave insult” to the memory of the Pahalgam attack victims.
