By Feroz Khan,News18

Copyright news18

India’s impressive Asia Cup 2025 win over Pakistan has been overshadowed by a post-match handshake snub which has resulted in a complaint to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and a demand from the Pakistan Cricket Board to the ICC seeking removal of match referee Andy Pycroft for his conduct.
Suryakumar Yadav, the India captain, later said that not shaking hands with their Pakistan counterparts was a collective decision and that they “just came to play cricket”.
Ex-India cricketer Suresh Raina says that not a single Indian player would’ve been interested in playing against Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. He added that the players had no choice since the government and BCCI had already approved that India and Pakistan can compete against each other in multinational tournaments.
“Actually, the government has given approval,” Raina was quoted as saying by Aaj Tak. “BCCI also said that the two countries will only compete in multi-nation tournaments. There will be no bilateral series between them.
“I know this very well that if you personally ask the Indian players, none of them would have wanted to play Asia Cup. They were kind of forced because BCCI has given its approval, and it is an ACC tournament. I am sad that India is playing against Pakistan. However, if you ask any player who is part of Suryakumar Yadav’s Asia Cup squad, everyone would have said no to playing against Pakistan,” he added.
Earlier this year, during a veterans cricket tournament, the Indian team featuring the likes of Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Shikhar Dhawan and Irfan Pathan had also withdrawn from their match against Pakistan triggering a controversy.
“As far as we are concerned, it was a private series. All the senior players were playing in it, who do not come under BCCI. In such a situation, all the players of our team Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan and others had decided not to play the match with Pakistan,” Raina said.
PCB Suspends Top Official
Meanwhile, PCB has suspended its Director of International Cricket Operations Usman Wahla for failure to take timely action in response to the Indian team’s refusal to shake hands with Pakistan after their Group A match on Sunday. According to a PCB release, match referee Andy Pycroft asked the two captains not to shake hands during the toss.