India captain Suryakumar Yadav used his post-match platform to dedicate the seven-wicket win over Pakistan in Group A of the Asia Cup 2025 to the Indian Armed Forces and the families affected by the Pahalgam terror attack.The match in Dubai saw India chase down Pakistan’s 127-9 in just 15.5 overs. After hitting the winning runs with a massive six, Yadav didn’t shake hands with the Pakistan team nor did Shivam Dube. At the post-match presentation he said, “We stand by the victims of the families of the Pahalgam terror attack. We express our solidarity. We want to dedicate today’s win to all our Armed Forces who showed a lot of bravery. Hope they continue to inspire us all and we give them more reasons, whenever we get an opportunity to make them smile.”India coach Gautam Gambhir echoed captain Suryakumar Yadav’s words, stating that the team stands in solidarity with the families of the Pahalgam terror attack victims while expressing gratitude to the armed forces for Operation Sindoor.
“The match was important for us because, as a team, we wanted to show our solidarity with the families of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. More importantly, we want to thank our armed forces for their successful Operation Sindoor, and I’m sure we will continue to try and make our country proud,” Gambhir told Sony Sports Network.
We stand by the victims of the families of Pahalgam terror attack. We express our solidarity. We want to dedicate today’s win to all our Armed Forces who showed a lot of bravery. Hope they continue to inspire us all and we give them more reasons on the ground whenever we get an… pic.twitter.com/stkrqIEBuE
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 14, 2025
The captains did not engage in the customary handshake during the toss as well, drawing the attention of the cricket fraternity. A handshake between the captains of both teams during the coin toss before matches in international cricket is a convention and not specified as a rule.Even after the end of the match, the Indian players refused to shake customary handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts, who came in a queue. Both the captains submitted their respective team sheets to the match referee Andy Pycroft from Zimbabwe, spoke with the TV commentator Ravi Shastri, who was conducting the toss, and headed back in their respective directions.The Pakistan skipper even boycotted the TV presentation ceremony. It is for the first time that arch-rivals India and Pakistan are facing off in a cricket match since the Pahalgam terror attacks earlier this year in April, which led to India launching retaliatory military action across the border in early May.Last month, India announced a new sports policy under which its teams and athletes will not be allowed to engage in bilateral events with Pakistan, but can face them in multilateral international tournaments.It also prohibited Indian athletes from travelling to Pakistan and refused to host teams and individual players from the neighbouring country. In the lead-up to this contest, the Indian camp maintained that the players were focused on the game and were aware of the sentiments and emotions, which they had put behind them to approach the match professionally.Both India and Pakistan won their respective opening matches of the tournament.(With PTI inputs)
