India skipper Suryakumar Yadav again refused to shake hands with Pakistan’s Salman Agha as he won the toss and elected to field in their Super Four contest of the Asia Cup on Sunday.
The two neighbours come into the key match of the regional tournament with tensions high after India angered Pakistan with a ‘no handshake’ stance in their previous meeting at the same venue in Dubai.
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It was the first cricketing clash between the rival nations since a four-day cross-border conflict in May left more than 70 people dead.
Andy Pycroft will be match referee in spite of Pakistan lodging a protest with the International Cricket Council, alleging that the Zimbabwean had told Agha not to approach Suryakumar for a handshake.
The Pakistan Cricket Board demanded Pycroft be removed from their matches and threatened to withdraw from the eight-team T20 competition.
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Because of fraught political ties, nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan only meet at neutral venues during multi-team tournaments.
India come into the Super Four unbeaten with three wins in the group stage.
“Since first round we were thinking we’re playing a knockout tournament, nothing changes,” said Suryakumar.
Pakistan, who came second behind India with two wins and one defeat, cancelled their pre-match press conference, but Agha said “the mood is normal” within the camp.
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Teams
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (capt), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
Umpires: Ahmad Shah Pakteen (AFG), Gazi Sohel (BAN)
TV Umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)
Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
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