NEW DELHI, Oct 1: After the men’s team in the just-concluded Asia cup tournament, the women’s cricket team participating in the women’s ODI World Cup has been told by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to refrain from shaking hands with the Pakistani players during their matches against Pakistan in the tournament, official sources hinted on Wednesday.
Indian women’s team is due to meet Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup league game in Colombo on Sunday. The message to avoid handshakes, at the toss or after the game, was delivered just before the women’s team departed for Sri Lanka on Wednesday, BCCI sources said. “The team won’t be shaking hands with the Pakistan team during the World Cup. The team has been informed by the BCCI bosses about this. The Indian board will stand by its players,” the sources said.
The Indian men’s team faced Pakistan thrice in the UAE during the Asia Cup, including in the final which they won by five wickets. For the women, the game against Pakistan will be their second in the World Cup after they won their first league game against Sri Lanka in Guwahati on Tuesday.
The women cricketers are travelling to Sri Lanka to take on Pakistan since the BCCI and PCB have decided to play each other only at neutral venues. Incidentally, this will be the fourth straight Sunday featuring India-Pakistan cricket matches in a politically charged atmosphere.
The Asia Cup was marked with references on and off the field to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people and India’s Operation Sindoor on terror infrastructure in PoK and Pakistan, which led to a brief military standoff.
Besides refusing to shake hands with the Pakistani players and support staff in any of the three matches at any stage, the team has also declined to accept the Asia Cup trophy and winners’ medals from the hands of the Asian Cricket Council chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and a India-baiter politician holding interior ministry portfolio in the Shehbaz Sharif government.
Subsequently, the BCCI accused Naqvi of taking away the trophy.
At an online ACC meeting Tuesday, BCCI officials said Naqvi failed to provide clarity about when the trophy and individual medals would reach them, and that this led to them exiting the meeting midway.
On Wednesday, Naqvi reportedly took to social media and denied reports that he had apologised. “Let me make it absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong and I have never apologised to the BCCI nor will I ever do so… As ACC chairman, I was ready to hand over the trophy that very day and I am still ready now. If they truly want it, they are welcome to come to the ACC office and collect it from me,” Naqvi said.
(Manas Dasgupta)