Suryakumar Boycotts! PAK Captain Salman Agha Awkwardly Left Solo With Asia Cup Trophy | Cricket News

India’s boycott of the Pakistan cricket team went up a notch just hours before the 2025 Asia Cup final. Captain Suryakumar Yadav refrained from a pre-match trophy photoshoot, leaving his opposite number, Salman Agha, standing on one side of the title with the other side awkwardly vacant.

According to news agency PTI, which cited sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) didn’t inform the BCCI about the photo shoot. It’s more of a franchise competition tradition, too, often seen in the IPL and tournaments such as the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados, which saw no photoshoots involving India and South African skippers Rohit Sharma and Aiden Markram.

Photos of the moment are going viral on social media. Here’s one:

Agha was asked about the scenario in the pre-match press conference, too, and he said his team would ‘just follow protocol’.

“They can do whatever they want; we will just follow the protocol,” Agha said. The rest is up to them. If they want to come, they come, and if they don’t, we can’t do anything…. We don’t focus on what we can’t control. Media talk, outside noise; we ignore it. Our goal is the Asia Cup. We came here to play good cricket, and tomorrow we’ll aim to win the final,” he added.

Pakistan reply with broadcaster boycott

For the first time in international cricket, two former players will conduct separate toss interviews after Pakistan refused to speak with Indian presenter Ravi Shastri. Shastri, who handled toss presentations for the previous two Indo-Pak games, was initially assigned to interview both captains.

However, the PCB reportedly requested a neutral presenter through the ACC. The ACC relayed this to the BCCI, who insisted Shastri remain. As a compromise, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha will be interviewed by Waqar Younis, while India’s Suryakumar Yadav will continue to interact with Shastri, avoiding any direct PCB-BCCI confrontation before the game.

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