Key points
- No handshakes between India, Pakistan teams
- Agha: “Disrespecting cricket, not just us”
- Indian players receive individual performance awards
DUBAI: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha strongly criticised India’s conduct during the recently concluded ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025, accusing them of disrespecting the game.
The tournament was clouded by controversies, particularly as Indian players declined to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts and later refused to accept the trophy from ACC President Mohsin Naqvi, who also chairs the Pakistan Cricket Board. Their refusal caused an hour-long delay to the presentation ceremony, drawing backlash from various quarters, including ex-India coach Ravi Shastri.
Despite the disruption, individual awards were presented: India’s Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Tilak Varma were honoured for their performances in the final. Salman Ali Agha collected Pakistan’s runners-up prize.
Kuldeep later returned to collect the highest wicket-taker award, while Abhishek Sharma was named Player of the Tournament for scoring 314 runs in seven innings at an average of 44.85.
Disrespecting cricket
However, the Indian team did not collect the winners’ trophy. Broadcaster Simon Doull announced, “I have been informed by the ACC that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”
In the press conference, Agha voiced his frustration: “They’re not disrespecting us by not shaking hands, they’re disrespecting cricket… I don’t want to use harsh words, but they’ve been very disrespectful.”
He added that Suryakumar Yadav shook hands with him privately earlier, suggesting the Indian skipper was following orders.
Agha remarked, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen this happen… If you won’t take the trophy from him, how will you get it?”
He concluded, “If a kid’s watching in India or Pakistan, we’re not sending them a good message.”
Lastly, Agha announced the team would donate their match fees to support victims of recent Indian attacks on Pakistan.
