Suryakumar Yadav, Salman Ali Agha Avoid Handshake At Toss In Asia Cup Clash: Watch | Cricket News

India and Pakistan are up against each other in the Asia Cup 2025 group-stage fixture in Dubai on Sunday evening. However, the pre-match atmosphere seemed tense. At the toss, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha walked out together but pointedly refrained from shaking hands or acknowledging each other.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. However, what stood out was the complete lack of interaction between the two captains, even as they spoke to presenter Ravi Shastri. The gesture certainly indicated the simmering tension surrounding the high-voltage encounter.

Speaking at the toss, the Pakistan skipper said, “Going to bat first. We’ve been playing good cricket, very excited. Looks like a slow wicket. Just want to bat first and put runs on the board. Same side. Have been here for 20-odd days and are used to the conditions.”

India are also going unchanged for their second group-stage fixture in the Asia Cup.

“We were looking to bowl first, happy with it. We played just one strip away, was a nice wicket and better to bat on in the night. It’s humid so hoping for some dew. Same team,” said Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav.

Here’re the playing XIs:

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris(w), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha(c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed.

(More to follow…)