No handshake between India, Pakistan captains before T20 World Cup match

Sport is about competing hard while retaining its essential spirit centred around grace. Shaking hands with an opponent is a basic component of any sporting endeavour. Even if India against Pakistan on the cricketing turf, is seen as war minus the shooting, a certain etiquette was in vogue until the recent years.

However, that warm trait has been discarded as Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav avoided shaking hands with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Agha at the toss, ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup Group A match here at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. This aversion to a sporting tradition was first revealed last year when India competed against Pakistan in the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Obviously there have been instructions from the highest levels of administration and the Men in Blue are perhaps following that. It is ironical that when Wasim Akram and Harbhajan Singh can hug and shake hands as commentators, their successors seem to be caught in a political slugfest.