Salman Ali Agha was of the opinion that the “No handshake” policy of the Indian team while playing Pakistan was “disrespectful” to the game and was not really the best thing to teach young kids who look up to cricketers and admire them as role models.
In a highly charged final of the Asia Cup held here on Sunday, India defeated arch rivals Pakistan by five wickets to win their second title in T20 format.
“What India has done in this tournament is very disappointing. They are not disrespecting us by not shaking hands, they are disrespecting cricket. Good teams don’t do what they did,” said the Pakistan skipper at the post-match press conference.
For Salman, such obligations are borne of playing the game.
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“We posed with the trophy (photo shoot) ourselves because we wanted to fulfil our obligations. We stood there and took our medals. I don’t want to use harsh words but they’ve been very disrespectful.”
Salman alleged that Suryakumar Yadav was a different person in public when it came to the exchange of courtesies as opposed to in private.
“When in private, he shook hands with me at the beginning of the tournament, in the pre-tournament press conference, and in the referee meeting. But out in the world in front of the cameras, they won’t shake our hands.
“I’m sure he’s been told that; although if he had the free will, he would shake hands with me.”
Salman attempted to justify Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi’s standing on the presentation dais before walking off with the trophy, stating that “the trophy was not given to India as they did not want to collect it from the PCB chief.”
He said, “Everything that happened today was a consequence of all that happened (before). Of course, the ACC president will give the trophy to the winners. If you won’t take the trophy from him, how will you get it?”
Also, these kind of things needed to come to an end at some stage.
“I have never seen this happen before. Whatever happened in this tournament was very bad. It has to stop at some point for the sake of cricket.”
The Pakistan captain believed such incidents will set the wrong example for the young.
“I’m not only the Pakistan captain. I am a cricket lover. If there is a kid in India or Pakistan watching this, a very wrong message is being given to them.”
Salman further said that the only ones who should unveil the reason for why it happened this way are the Indian side itself.
“People look up to us as role models; if this is how we’re behaving, then we’re not inspiring them. What has happened should not have, but you should be asking those (of India) responsible for this rather than me.”
While concluding the press conference, Salman, seemingly in an afterthought, stated that the match fees of the entire Pakistan team would be donated to the families of those who died during the ‘Operation Sindoor’.
The Asia Cup was, thus, taking place in the backdrop of India-Pakistan border tensions following the killing of 26 tourists by terrorists in Pahalgam earlier this year, which was followed by retaliation by the Indian forces under Operation Sindoor.
