CHENNAI: Soon as he hit the winning runs, India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube walked off the field, refraining from the customary handshakes with the Pakistan team during the Asia Cup encounter in Dubai on Sunday. Minutes later, India captain Yadav dedicated the seven-wicket win to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and Indian armed forces.
"We stand by the victims of the families of the Pahalgam terror attack. We express our solidarity. Want to dedicate the win to all our armed forces who showed a lot of bravery," Yadav said during the post-match presentation.
Even as the Indian batting duo had walked off the field after getting past the 128-run target, Pakistan players and support staff waited in front of the opposition dressing room for the customary post-match handshake. However, Indian players and coaching staff did not come out of the dressing room, which left Pakistan players and head coach Mike Hesson miffed. Skipper Salman Agha then went on to skip the post-match presentation.
"We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game but disappointed that the opposition didn't do that. We went over there to shake hands but they had already gone into the changing room. That was a disappointing way for the match to finish. Disappointed with the way we played but we were willing to shake hands," Hesson said during the post-match press conference before confirming that Agha didn't attend the presentation as a result of it.
Earlier during the toss, India captain Yadav did not shake hands with Pakistan skipper as it is customarily done.
