Shaheen Shah Afridi, the renowned pacer for Pakistan, has rekindled tensions between India and Pakistan in cricket by criticising Team India of failing to uphold sportsmanship during the 2025 Asia Cup. His remarks during an interview with the media in Lahore have sparked discussion about the contentious on-field behaviour seen during the continental event.
Tensions between the bitter rivals affected the 2025 Asia Cup. Indian players routinely shunned handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts after games in all three of the India-Pakistan series. Captain Suryakumar Yadav spearheaded the action, which was interpreted as a show of support for the Indian military and a symbolic protest in the wake of the Pahalgam terror assault. Afridi, however, said that individuals on the other side of the border transgressed the spirit of sportsmanship.
“Sportsmanship has been broken by those on the other side of the border. We continue to concentrate on playing cricket, which is our job.
We’ll make an effort to react on the pitch’, Shaheen Afridi stated.
Shaheen Afridi on India behaviour in Asia Cup:
“People across the border have violated the spirit of sportsmanship. Our job is to play cricket, and that remains our focus. We will try to respond on the field.”#ShaheenAfridi #PAKvIND pic.twitter.com/EWxiZXgJGJ— Shakeel Khan Khattak (@ShakeelktkKhan) January 7, 2026
One facet of the antagonistic environment is the refusal to shake hands. There were a number of incidents on the pitch, notably Pakistani players’ provocative celebrations. Sahibzada Farhan’s imitation of a rifle fire celebration and Haris Rauf’s jet-crashing gesture were both heavily ridiculed and ultimately resulted in punishments under the ICC Code of Conduct.
India’s victory over Pakistan in the Asia Cup final even sparked the issue. The PCB chairman and president of the Asian Cricket Council, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s interior minister, offered the trophy to the Men in Blue, but they declined. According to reports, Naqvi refused to assign the presentation, hence the prize was never given out.
India celebrated their triumph without the trophy on stage when the awards ceremony was abruptly cut short. On Sunday, February 15, the bitter rivals will square off in Match No. 27 of the next T20 World Cup in Colombo.
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