New Delhi: Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha recently recalled the first instance of the handshake row against India during the Asia Cup 2025. Agha revealed he had no idea about India’s no-handshake gesture and that the Pakistan players even went to the Indian dressing room after the game to shake hands with the players as a formality; however, Suryakumar Yadav & Co. remained firm on their stance.
India and Pakistan met three times during last year’s Asia Cup, with the Indian team refusing to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts on all three occasions. India’s no handshake policy was a mark of silent protest following the Pahalgam terror attack in April last year, where Pakistan-linked terrorists killed 26 innocent people.
The Indian cricket team has since maintained the no-handshake policy against Pakistan across all events. Indian players refused to shake hands with the Pakistan players and the support staff during their recent meeting in the T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year.
Speaking on a podcast, Agha opened up on India’s no-handshake gesture in the Asia Cup 2025. The Pakistan skipper revealed he was informed about the same by the match referee at the toss during the first meeting between the two teams in the tournament. Agha also said Indian skipper Suryakumar had shaken hands with him during the trophy shoot before the start of the tournament.
“I went for the toss. Before that, there was a press conference. There was a shake-hand, trophy shoot, there was a handshake. When I was going for the toss, I was pretty normal. Obviously, I had an idea that it wouldn’t be that normal, but I didn’t know there would be no handshake. I didn’t have that idea,” Agha said in the podcast.
“I went for the toss with our media manager, Naeem Bhai. The match referee, I don’t remember his name, he took me aside and said, ‘We’re going to do it like this. There won’t be a handshake.’ So, please look at that. I said, ‘It’s fine if there’s not going to be a handshake. I am not too keen either.’ So, this is what happened. He told me beforehand that there won’t be a handshake,” he added.