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Though multiple former India cricketers have sided with Suryakumar Yadav for not shaking hands with the Pakistan team during their Asia Cup clash, Manoj Tiwary has a completely different point-of-view over the matter. The former India and Kolkata Knight Riders batter was critical of Suryakumar & Co. for not playing the game within the spirit. He also called out India head coach Gautam Gambhir as he was the one calling for the boycott of the match at first, but eventually ended up following BCCI's guidelines.
Notably, BCCI had to face a lot of scrutiny after the match between India and Pakistan was announced to be played in Asia Cup. Many were against the ideo of the two teams playing against each other even though political relations between the countries deteriorated to a new low earlier this year due to the Pahalgam terrorist attack and Operation Sindoor. Tiwary was among the people who were in favour of boycotting the match and had made his stance clear over the matter.
"He (Gambhir) was the one saying that we should not play against Pakistan at any given point, until the issues are resolved...I think it was not the right thing to do (not shaking hands). When you have decided to play the game against Pakistan...and also over there (during the press conference), Surya did shake hands with Salman Agha, so when you have already shaken hands...then what are the messages you want to show to the people of India?" Tiwary told Insidesport.
Tiwary even called Gambhir a 'hypocrite'
Tiwary also alleged that Team India refused to shake hands with Pakistan to avoid massive backlash on social media. He also criticised Gambhir once again and even called him a 'hypocrite', pointing out that he cannot defend multiple statements that he has given in the past.
"I thought so...there was a trending hashtag as well - 'Boycott Asia Cup'...I thought the head coach might have felt the pressure about him being a little hypocrite about the fact that when he was not in charge of being the head coach, he gave a lot of statements that he can not defend...it might just have triggered him to show some support to the grieving families," Tiwary added.
Meanwhile, India comfortably defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets in their Asia Cup clash to remain at the top of Group A..This victory also saw the Men in Blue qualify for the Super 4 stage. However, Pakistan's fate hangs in the balance as they need to defeat UAE in their next fixture in order to make it past the group stage. The two teams will be clashing against each other on September 17.
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