Team India's refusal to shake hands with Pakistan after their win at the Asia Cup has created a lot of buzz on social media.
India outplayed Pakistan once again in the T20I format as they registered a commanding 7-wicket victory in the Group A game at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
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India's victory, however, was not the major point of discussion. After the Indian skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, hit the winning runs, the Indian side refused to shake hands with the Pakistani players, which made headlines and sparked a lot of debate.
Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary has now shared his opinions on the issue, lashing out at Gautam Gambhir, stating that it wasn't the right thing to do.
Manoj Tiwari lashes out at Gautam Gambhir over the handshake controversy
India and Pakistan faced each other for the first time post the Pahalgham terror attack earlier this year, which took away many innocent lives. The Men in Blue, as a protest to the incident, decided not to shake hands with the Pakistani players.
Suryakumar and Gambhir also dedicated the win to the brave Indian soldiers and to all those affected, as they mentioned that they stand in solidarity with the victims of the attack.
The decision, however, faced differing opinions from people and cricketing experts. While the majority of the Indian people and experts supported India's decision, Manoj doesn’t seem to be happy with what transpired on the field on Sunday.
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In his interview with Inside Sport, the former Indian cricketer expressed his disappointment over the incident and heavily criticized Gambhir.
"He (Gambhir) was the one saying that we should not play against Pakistan at any given point, until the issues are resolved...I think it was not the right thing to do (not shaking hands). When you have decided to play the game against Pakistan...and also over there (during the press conference), Surya did shake hands with Salman Agha, so when you have already shaken hands...then what are the messages you want to show to the people of India?" said Tiwary.
Surya and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha shared the same stage just a few days back at the pre-season press conference. The Indian skipper was also seen shaking hands with the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, during the same event.
Did India refuse to shake hands because of the social media backlash?
India's decision to go ahead with the Pakistan game created a lot of controversy, with the Indian fans demanding a boycott of the game. Team India and the BCCI faced a huge backlash for their decision to play against Pakistan.
On being asked whether the handshake refusal by the team was done to avoid the social media backlash, Tiwary said:
"I thought so...there was a trending hashtag as well - 'Boycott Asia Cup'...I thought the head coach might have felt the pressure about him being a little hypocrite about the fact that when he was not in charge of being the head coach, he gave a lot of statements that he can not defend...it might just have triggered him to show some support to the grieving families."
Gambhir as the head coach of India, is bound by certain decisions of the board and finds himself in a situation now.