2 min readMay 2, 2026 09:48 PM IST
Opening up about the handshake snub from India captain Suryakumar Yadav at last year’s Asia Cup, Pakistan T20 captain Salman Ali Agha has said that he was warned before the toss by match referee Andy Pycroft about Yadav’s intention of not shaking hands with him.
Agha also said that he was initially surprised at the move since he claimed Yadav had shook his hands at a photoshoot event before the tournament started.
“Before the tournament, a press conference was held, during which a handshake took place. During the trophy photoshoot, we shook hands as well. So, when I went for the toss, I was completely normal. Of course, I had an idea that things wouldn’t be as normal, but I didn’t think it would escalate to the point where there would be no handshake. I didn’t expect that,” Agha said on the ARY podcast.
“I went for the toss with the Pakistan team media manager. The match referee took me aside and told me, ‘They are going to do this: there won’t be a handshake, so please keep that in mind’. I replied, ‘If there’s no handshake, then so be it’. It’s not like I was desperate to shake hands. So that’s how it happened; he told me beforehand that there would be no handshake. After the match ended, we lost, and we were walking toward their pavilion for the handshake, they still didn’t shake hands,” he added.
Agha went on to add that he was not in favour of captains not shaking hands with rivals.
“If I am the Pakistan team captain, kids will look at me and try and copy me. So I am not in favour of things like no handshakes. When you are a role model, you should not resort to such things,” Agha added.
Meanwhile, another Pakistan cricketer Hassan Ali, who was also a part of that episode, said: “it would have been better if there was no match at all. Both teams should have come to a mutual understanding that there would be no match, both teams could have split a point each.”
