“What is the message you want to send?” - Manoj Tiwary slams Indian team for not shaking hands with Pakistan players

Former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary, who boycotted watching India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 clash, has stated that Indian players should’ve shaken their hands with the Pakistani players after their seven-wicket win on Sunday, September 14, in Dubai.

Speaking exclusively on InsideSport, Tiwary also asserted that since the Indian team decided to play the game against Pakistan, it wasn’t the right thing to skip the handshake after the victory. Moreover, he also took an example of Suryakumar Yadav shaking hands with Pakistani skipper Salman Ali Agha in the pre-tournament press conference, questioning what message the Indian skipper wanted to send.

“I thought it was not the right thing to do. Once you’ve decided to play the game against Pakistan, I was watching one of the clips from the press conference where there was a handshake between the captains. Over there, Surya did shake hands with Salman Agha. So, once you’ve already done it at the press conference, what is the message you want to send? That, ‘I don’t want to shake hands after winning and want to dedicate this win to the martyrs and the grieving families,'” Manoj told InsideSport.

Moreover, Tiwary also noted that the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir might have felt a lot of pressure for India’s participation in the game against Pakistan. Notably, Gambhir and Suryakumar dedicated India’s victory to the brave armed forces and the families of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.

“I think the head coach must have felt the pressure about himself being hypocritical about the fact that, when he was not in charge of the side, he gave a lot of statements that he cannot defend. He could have opted out himself, but he didn’t do that. I think he was triggered to show some support to the victims by not shaking hands with the Pakistan team,” he concluded.

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