[WATCH] Suryakumar Yadav walks away to avoid handshake with Pakistan captain at toss during Asia Cup 2025

There were calls to boycott the clash between India and Pakistan from the Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on the back of the Pahalgam terror attack. But once the Indian sports ministry gave the green light and the BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, called it a spirit for the game, the encounter went ahead on September 14.

But there was an interesting point during the toss of the clash. Pakistan’s captain, Salman Ali Agha, won the toss and decided to bat first on a new surface, which he reckoned would hold in the second innings. But India’s captain, Suryakumar Yadav, didn’t shake hands after the toss as he walked away from the scene.

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It was the second time in the series that Sky avoided such a feat with the captain of this opposition. That happened during the captains’ meet in Dubai on the opening day of the clash. Sky shook hands with all the captains of Afghanistan, Oman, Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, but not with Pakistan.

Watch: India’s captain denies handshake with Pakistan in Men’s Asia Cup 2025

Both teams decided to retain the same playing eleven. Many predicted that the Blue Brigade could bring the left-arm pacer, Arshdeep Singh, into the eleven, but they opted against it and went with three spinners, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel. The same happened with Pakistan, who didn’t break their winning side to get Haris Rauf.

It was a poor start in the encounter for the Pakistan side, who lost their aggressive opening batter, Saim Ayub, on the first legal ball of the innings. The left-handed batter went for an uppish drive against Hardik Pandya and found Jasprit Bumrah at the point region. Mohammed Haris was late on the pull shot and was caught at the square leg region.

Fakhar Zaman and Farhan tried to improve their batting inside the first six overs of the innings. The latter clubbed two sixes against Bumrah to shoulder Pakistan to 42/2 to end the powerplay. The dew seemed to be a part of the second innings during India’s chase.