“Unsporting” - PCB lodges a complaint against Indian players’ behaviour of not shaking hands against Pakistan

In an interesting turn of events, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has lodged an official complaint with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) against Indian players’ behaviour of not shaking hands against Pakistan.

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Moving into the details, the Indian players, including the unbeaten batters, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube, didn’t shake hands with the opposition players after propelling the Indian team to a seven-wicket win on Sunday, September 14, in Dubai.

While the Pakistani players, including the skipper Salman Ali Agha, queued up at the Indian dugout for the customary handshakes, none of the Indian players stepped out to shake their hands, which didn’t go down well with the Pakistan captain, who skipped the post-match presentation ceremony.

In response, PCB was quick to release an official statement, revealing that the team manager, Naveed Cheema, has lodged a complaint against the Indian players’ behaviour for not shaking hands after the game, and labelled it as unsporting.

“Team manager Naveed Cheema lodged a strong protest against the Indian players' behaviour of not shaking hands. It was deemed as unsporting and against the spirit of the game. As a protest, we did not send our captain to the post-match ceremony," read a PCB statement.

When asked about the decision not to shake hands, the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav made it clear that it was a team call and stated that they had come only to play and give the opposition a proper response. Moreover, he also dedicated the victory to the Indian armed forces and stood with the families of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.

"We took a team call. We had come only to play. We had given them a reply. Some things are beyond sportsmanship. We dedicate this victory to our armed forces who took part in 'Operation Sindoor' and stand with families of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack," said Suryakumar in the post-match presentation.

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