Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha announced on Monday that the team would donate their Asia Cup final match fees to the families of civilians and children killed in the May Indian attacks, while criticizing India\u2019s \u201cdisappointing\u201d behavior during the tournament. \u201cWhat India did throughout this tournament has been very disappointing,\u201d Agha told reporters after the final in Dubai. \u201cThey\u2019re not just disrespecting us by refusing to shake hands\u2014they\u2019re disrespecting cricket itself. Good teams don\u2019t act this way. We went forward to pose with the trophy on our own to fulfil our obligations, and we stood there to receive our medals. I don\u2019t want to use harsh words, but their behavior was very disrespectful.\u201d Pakistan lost the final to India in a last-over thriller on Sunday. The post-match presentation was delayed for over 90 minutes after the Indian side refused to accept the trophy from ACC President and PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also serves as Pakistan\u2019s Interior Minister. This incident capped a series of occasions during the tournament where India avoided contact with Pakistani players and officials. Agha clarified that he held no personal issue with Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav, noting that Yadav would likely have shaken hands if given the choice. \u201cHe shook hands with me in private at the start of the tournament, during the pre-tournament press conference, and at the referee\u2019s meeting,\u201d Agha said. \u201cBut in public, in front of the cameras, they don\u2019t shake hands. I\u2019m sure he\u2019s following instructions, but if it were up to him, he would have shaken hands with me.\u201d The Pakistan captain emphasized that such behavior is unprecedented and harmful to the spirit of the game. \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve ever witnessed this. Whatever happened in this tournament was very bad, and I hope it stops at some stage because it is damaging to cricket,\u201d he added. Everything that happened today was a consequence of all that happened before. Of course the ACC president will give the trophy to the winners. If you won\u2019t take the trophy from him, how will you get it?\u201d As in the previous two India-Pakistan matches, neither side exchanged handshakes before or after the final. Players stayed in separate huddles while waiting for the ceremony to begin. \u201cI\u2019m not just a Pakistan captain, I\u2019m a cricket fan,\u201d Agha said. \u201cIf a kid\u2019s watching in India or Pakistan, we\u2019re not sending them a good message. People think of us as role models, but if we\u2019re behaving like this, we\u2019re not inspiring them. What happened shouldn\u2019t have happened, but you should ask the people [India] responsible for this rather than me.\u201d Before ending the press conference, Agha spoke about the team\u2019s decision to support victims of the recent Indian attacks. \u201cAs a team, we are donating our Asia Cup final match fees to the families of civilians and children affected in the Indian attacks on Pakistan,\u201d Salman Agha said in his closing remarks before wrapping up the press conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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