(Web Desk) – As Pakistan and India get ready to face off in the Asia Cup 2025 final on Sunday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has criticised Indian players for declining to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts during the tournament.
In an interview with ANI, Tharoor emphasised that sports should not be mixed with politics or conflict, noting that cricket has its own spirit which should remain distinct from tensions between nations and their militaries.
"I personally feel that once the decision was made to play, if we feel so strongly about Pakistan, then we should not have played them at all. But if we are going to play, we should play in the spirit of the game and shake hands. We did this even in 1999 during the Kargil War, when soldiers were dying on the frontlines, and yet we shook hands with Pakistan during the World Cup in England," he said.
#WATCH | "I personally feel that once the decision had been made to play, if we feel so strongly about Pakistan, we should not have played...But if we are going to play them, we should play in the spirit of a game, and we should have shaken their hands...We have done this before… pic.twitter.com/6luy8Gyt6i
— ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2025The controversy began during the much-anticipated group-stage clash between the two sides, when both teams skipped the customary handshake—reportedly on the advice of the match referee. The incident drew considerable attention on and off the field.
India went on to win the group match by seven wickets, but captain Suryakumar Yadav stirred further controversy by injecting political remarks into his post-match presentation speech, which the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) described as a breach of the ICC’s neutrality code.
Following the complaint from PCB, the International Cricket Council (ICC) issued an official reprimand to Yadav for politicising the game during the September 14 encounter against Pakistan.