Boria Majumdar in Dubai
Why does Pakistan want India to do the handshakes? What’s the significance? Is it only because of sportsmanship? The spirit of the game? Is there any other motive to the whole thing that we are actually missing?
Like I have said many times before, the India-Pakistan game on Sunday wasn’t a normal one. It is being played against the backdrop of a dastardly terror act and was played more out of compulsion than anything else. India has its own geopolitical ambitions and playing Pakistan is a part of this larger ‘India’ story. It is to ensure Pakistan doesn’t go crying to world powers and allege that India isn’t giving visas to their athletes and more.
Playing was a compulsion. Shaking hands wasn’t. It was India’s choice and they are well within their rights to just walk off. Take the case of Faheem Ashraf. He has been writing filth on social media and yet has never been pulled up by the PCB. As a national cricketer, he ought to have a degree of responsibility. The truth is he doesn’t, and the powers-that-be led by Mohsin Naqvi are comfortably oblivious to it. Faheem finds a place in the Pakistan team and keeps doing his pathetic acts. Now if India doesn’t associate with this scum and doesn’t want to shake hands, what’s wrong in that? Faheem isn’t one to even look at, leave alone a handshake.
Pakistan, on the other hand, wanted the handshake, for it was validation. It was a gesture they would have taken to the world and claimed all things had turned normal. That India played them and then at the end of the game there was camaraderie between the players. It would have been their way to hijack the narrative and claim things were back to normal.
India did not give them the chance. By refusing to shake hands, India turned the clock back to the cowardly Pahalgam terror attack and yet again got the world to talk about it. Today, everyone is speaking about it because the Indians did not shake hands and shut the dressing room door. In a way India used sport to perfection. On the field they beat Pakistan hollow and off it, they made the larger point that it is a rogue country that they are having to play with, and they don’t deserve the customary handshake.
Pakistan’s desperate attempt at seeking validation thus fell flat on its face. Now it is no longer possible to claim that India has moved on. The truth is we haven’t. And we will not. None of us will ever forget the dastardly act and every time we play them, we will remind the world about this act. On and off the field, Pakistan will be exposed and they will need to learn to deal with it.
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SHOCKING AND HYPOCRITICAL ACT !
Pakistan didn’t attend the post-match presentation ceremony because it was being conducted by Sanjay Manjrekar, an Indian. And they changed the narrative by saying it was due to the handshake refusal from Team India. @BoriaMajumdar &… pic.twitter.com/Xre2fI7nBO
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) September 15, 2025