No handshakes. Reams of ill feeling. Match officials and players on the edge. And a comfortable win for India over Pakistan.
Seven days may be a long time in Asia Cup 2025. But, at the end of a toxic week for Indo-Pak cricket relations, not a lot had changed.
After India had set the seal on a six-wicket win over their great rivals which was every bit as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests, perhaps it was best the teams stayed apart.
A formation line for handshakes could feasibly have brought certain players to blows.
Fast bowler Haris Rauf had to be kept apart from Abhishek Sharma, the India opener, during the run chase.
Shaheen Afridi, the spearhead of Pakistan’s attack, had verbals with both Abhishek and his opening partner, Shubman Gill.
But for all the fire and fury Pakistan’s players showed, the skill deficit was telling again, just as it had been when India coasted to a seven-wicket win in their Group A meeting last Sunday.
Abhishek made a 24-ball half century, and Pakistan had no answers, despite showing fight before subsiding.
When the match officials were in their minibus on their way to the ground, they might have discussed wanting a nice, quiet, non-controversial start to the game. Fat chance of that happening.
First, it was the turn of Andy Pycroft, “the controversial match referee” as he was termed in official Pakistan Cricket Board media channels last week.
The undemonstrative Zimbabwean unwittingly became a central figure to the furore last week when the toss went ahead without handshakes.
The PCB wanted him out for his role in that, and lodged an official complaint. The ICC pointed out that was unworkable, given the precedent it would set, but they did at least say they got an apology out of him – meaning they would not boycott the rest of the tournament.
Given the backdrop, Pycroft might have been doing some deep breathing exercises in the middle ahead of the toss this time. He got a handshake out of Suryakumar Yadav, who arrived first, and Salman Agha, the Pakistan captain, too.
Brokering a truce between the two captains was beyond him, though. They shared neither a handshake nor an acknowledgement as they swapped team sheets before the toss.
Suryakumar won that, and opted for India to bowl first, which meant Pycroft passed on the baton for keeping order to the umpires.
Just what they did not need was a controversy over a caught behind dismissal of Pakistan’s leading batter.
Fakhar Zaman looked in prime touch after swapping places with runless Saim Ayub and opening the batting. Then he edged a slower ball by Hardik Pandya off the 16th ball of the game.
India’s players all celebrated as if it was a routine dismissal, as the ball settled into wicketkeeper Sanju Samson’s gloves. Fakhar, by contrast, was unmoved.
The video review of it was almost impossible to call: depending on which side of the border you sit on, it either showed the ball bouncing off the ground into Samson’s gloves, or off the tips of his fingers up into his palms.
All that mattered was the decision of Ruchira Palliyaguruge, the third umpire who was subbed off the field when officiating Pakistan v UAE earlier in the week after being hit on the head. He decided the ball had carried, and Fakhar was out. He and his team were seething.
Sahibzada Farhan, the other opener, was at least able to turn the frustration into something fruitful, and in so doing intensified the drama.
He had been dropped twice – once on nought off the third ball of the game, and later on 38 – by Abhishek Sharma. He hade the most of his luck, and made a half century.
To celebrate reaching the milestone, after a huge six off Axar Patel, he mimed shooting a rifle. Given the prevailing atmosphere, that seemed questionable, but both captains did say ahead of the tournament they would not be ordering their players to temper their aggression.
Despite Farhan’s efforts, Pakistan’s innings slowed as it went on, until a late cameo by Faheem Ashraf pushed them to 171 for five from their 20 overs.
It always felt shy of par, but Abhishek and Gill made a mockery of the idea it might be in any way competitive. The duo put on 105 for the first wicket before they were parted on the penultimate ball of the 10th over.
Abhishek carried on to make 74 from 39 balls, before becoming the third Indian wicket to fall for the addition of 18 runs.
The mini collapse scarcely mattered, given the start the openers had given the defending champions.
India clinched the win with four off the bat of Tilak Varma, at which point the India batters headed straight to the dressing room and stayed there, just as they had a week earlier.
