It is 3 a.m. in Dubai right now, 4 a.m. in Pakistan. I have just returned to my hotel after spending nearly 12 hours at the Dubai Cricket Stadium, where I witnessed a thrilling India Vs Pakistan final of the Asia Cup 2025. It was a spectacular contest, where every single run and every wicket became a nail-biting battle between the two teams. This was the third consecutive Sunday in Dubai that I had the chance to watch an India Vs Pakistan clash, and on all three occasions, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, the Indian team defeated Pakistan. But this time, the matter seemed to go beyond just winning and losing.

I arrived in Dubai on September 11 for the coverage of the Asia Cup. The next day, I covered the Pakistan vs. Oman match at the Dubai Stadium, and exactly a day later, I got the chance to witness the traditional Pakistan–India clash in Dubai. But this time, after the Pakistan–India war in May, I did not notice the same level of excitement and enthusiasm in this encounter.

A new twist emerged when, at the toss in the media box, I noticed that Pakistan’s captain Salman Ali Agha and India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands. Throughout the match, discussions continued among Pakistani and Indian journalists in the media box about this moment. Another question that kept coming up was: would the two teams line up and shake hands in the traditional way after the match or not?

And then, at the end of the match just like at the toss no handshakes were seen between the players of the two teams. The situation worsened when the Pakistani players, in the traditional manner, started walking toward the Indian dressing room after the match to shake hands, but instead of reciprocating, the Indian players went inside their dressing room and shut the door.

I have covered many world cricket events and broken several stories, but I could not fully understand what was happening this time. The Asia Cup 2025, however, seemed determined to deliver one explosive twist after another.

In response to India, the Pakistan Cricket Board also went into action. On September 17, in Dubai, by not boycotting the Pakistan vs. UAE match and going ahead with playing, the PCB ensured it did not close its path in the tournament. But on September 21, when the two teams clashed again in the Super Four in Dubai, Pakistan’s defeat was overshadowed by the players’ performances and aggressive attitude on the field enough to open the eyes of the Indian board, team, and media.

The same Indian captain who once did not even consider Pakistan as a competitor was now forced to say there was no real comparison between the two teams. Yet, Pakistan’s victories over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and their qualification for the final made me feel as if the once-booming voices of former Indian cricketers and the Indian media had grown noticeably subdued.

After the Pakistan players’ aggressive behavior in their clash with India in Dubai, Pakistani fans, instead of mourning the loss, were busy praising their players’ fighting spirit. Meanwhile, the ICC, which had been silent since the September 14 match, finally woke up. It not only took notice of the Indian captain’s political remarks during the prize distribution ceremony but also summoned Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan.

On one side, there was tension between the two governments; on the other, there was unnecessary pressure on the Indian players in particular, along with the baffling attitude of Indian social media journalists. In contrast, the goodwill gestures of Indian and Pakistani spectators toward each other at the end of the matches presented a completely different picture.

For the first time in my cricket coverage, I was witnessing so much happening during the course of play. It felt to me that, more than defeat or victory, issues of “ego” were at the center of discussions. This was especially surprising because cricket had always played a role in bridging distances between the two countries. However, this time, after each match, instead of easing, the tension between the two nations seemed to be growing.

The same Indian media that had fueled the fire of hatred was now talking about keeping the game limited to the field. Former cricketers themselves were criticizing their team’s refusal to shake hands. But just as a bullet once fired from a gun and words once spoken cannot be taken back, in the same way, the conversations of both captains with presenters from their respective countries during the final and the Indian team’s decision not to receive the trophy from Asian Cricket Council President Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi have pushed not only the Asia Cup 2025 but also Pakistan–India “cricket” relations into a dead end.

In this whole saga, the question now arises: if the Indian team continues to take the field with the same attitude in future matches against Pakistan, won’t matters get even worse? By refusing to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council President Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, the Indian team made a mockery of itself ,they won, yet walked away empty-handed, and their three victories over Pakistan in this tournament went to waste.

In sports, you silence your opponents through your performance and victory, but in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his supporters’ extremist mindset has even stripped Indian cricketers of the words that once defined the “Gentlemen’s Game.” Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, after the Champions Trophy, has once again crushed Indian arrogance in the Asian Cricket Council something that has now put the Indian cricket board in a bind. Should it focus on playing cricket, or on managing the political front?

In short, through all of this, the embarrassment has fallen entirely on India.