There were no handshakes between India captain Suryakumar Yadav and his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha at the toss for the Asia Cup Super Four match between the two sides at the Dubai International Stadium. This could be an indication that interaction between the two sides will be similar to what was seen in the previous match between them at this year’s tournament, in which the two captains didn’t shake hands before the toss and the teams didn’t do it either after the game.
Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bowl first on Sunday, after which he gave his interview to Ravi Shastri before promptly turning around and walking back to the Indian dressing room. In the previous match between the two sides on September 14, it was Agha who had won the toss and thus gave the interview first. Both captains didn’t take any initiative to shake hands or even greet each other at the toss then and the same was the case on Sunday.
Suryakumar later bought up the Pahalgam terror attack and dedicated the seven-wicket win to the Armed forces. The controversy around the handshake incident ended up stretching for the rest of the week, with Pakistan asking for Andy Pycroft, who was referee for the match, to be removed from the position. When that demand as not heeded to, they demanded an apology from Pycroft before their final group match against UAE. The game ended up being delayed by an hour.
Suryakumar said at the toss that India are bringing back Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy for the game. There was significant speculation over whether Axar Patel would be fit for this game but he is also included in the playing XI. Agha also said that his side has made two changes with Faheem Ashraf and Hussain Talat replacing Hasan Nawaz and Khushdil Shah
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