India Refuse Trophy Photoshoot With Pakistan Before Asia Cup Final: Report | Cricket News

Controversies around the Asia Cup 2025 far from over. Just a day ahead of the crunch final between India and Pakistan, captains Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha won’t pose together for the trophy photoshoot. This incident has further heated up handshake saga which has become the epicenter of the ongoing continental tournament.

According to several media reports, Pakistan’s Geo News being one of them, there will be no traditional captains’ photo shoot before the Asia Cup final. The event was supposed to take place on Saturday but India reportedly denied taking part in it.

It was reliably learned that the Indian contingent took a day off as no one from the camp addressed the media before the final, skipping the age-old tradition of pre-match press conferences.

Unlike India, Pakistan captain Salman Agha spoke to the reporters and answered queries based on the ongoing controversies. He struck a defiant tone, both on his team’s approach and their intention to express raw emotions on the field.

“Every individual has the right to express emotions. If we stop a fast bowler from showing emotions, what’s left then? I won’t stop anyone as long as it is not disrespectful,” Agha said.

Haris Rauf’s provocative gestures in the last encounter had sparked plenty of debate, but Agha refused to rein in his fast bowlers, saying aggression is part and parcel of their trade.

The noise surrounding India-Pakistan games has transcended cricket in the ongoing Asia Cup. Agha said the handshake incident shouldn’t have happened.

“I started playing U-16 in 2007. I never saw any teams not shaking hands. Even when Indo-Pak relations were worse, we still shook hands,” he recalled.

“My father is a huge fan cricket. He also never told me anything about two teams playing match but not shaking hands,” he added.

Amid the noise, Agha’s mantra has been simple – ignore the ‘uncontrollables’ and focus on the trophy.

“We can’t control what’s happening outside. We can control the controllables. And that is winning the Asia Cup,” he concluded.