The handshake saga from the Asia Cup 2025 match against India has taken a turn for the worse as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi has now stepped in. In a tweet on X, Naqvi announced that the PCB has filed a complaint with ICC for the removal of match referee Andy Pycroft from the Asia Cup for violating rules of the ICC Code of Conduct and the MCC Laws that relates to the spirit of cricket.
According to media reports, PCB said in a statement that Pycroft had told the two captains Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha not to shake hands during the toss. As a result, the PCB lodged a protest against the match referee over requesting the captains not to shake hands. PCB released the below statement:
"Manager Naveed Akram Cheema has registered a formal protest against the match referee’s behaviour. Match referee requested the captains not to shake hands during the toss."
Although there was reportedly no directive on the post-match handshake, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube walked away after consigning Pakistan to a seven-wicket defeat. As per visuals surfaced on social media, Pakistani players were waiting on the ground but the Indian contingent shut the door of their dressing room and refused to entertain the opposition.
Later, Suryakumar Yadav explained it by saying that they are aligned with the government and BCCI and did not shake hands as a sign to express solidarity with their armed forces and the victims of the Pahalgam attack. Agha responded by not doing a post-game presentation.
"We were disappointed that our opposition didn’t do that" - Mike Hesson
At the post-game press conference, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson said it was a disappointing gesture from the Indian side and that his players were willing to shake hands. Hesson stated, as quoted by India Today:
"We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game. We were disappointed that our opposition didn’t do that. We had gone towards them to shake hands but they had already gone back to the dressing room. It was a disappointing way for the match to finish. We were disappointed with the way we played but certainly we were willing to go and shake hands."
As for the game, the Men in Blue chased down the target of 128 with seven wickets to spare. Kuldeep Yadav received the Player of the Match award for his figures of 4-0-18-3.
