Asia Cup: India vs Pakistan: Mohammad Yousuf uses abusive word against Suryakumar Yadav on national television for handshake row

It isn't surprising to see tempers flaring after an India-Pakistan cricket match. After all, when arch-rivals clash, these things are inevitable, right? However, the latest Asia Cup clash between the two has become famous not for the quality of competition in the match but rather about the post-match antics that followed just after. India's captain Suryakumar Yadav, who hit the winning runs with a big six over deep mid-wicket, promptly walked off the field with his batting partner Shivam Dube without doing the customary handshakes with the Pakistan players and match officials. In fact, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha and his mates seemed visibly upset at the proceedings, even as Suryakumar and Dube walked into the dressing room, before shutting the door coldly.

As expected, the reactions to this event were polarised across both countries and the cricketing world in general. Former Pakistan batter Mohammad Yousuf, one of the premier batters of his generation, absolutely tore into Suryakumar on Pakistan's national television and even ended up using an abusive word. When speaking on the handshake row, Yousuf repeatedly addressed 'Suar' in the prefix instead of 'Surya' and despite the anchor's prompt corrections, Yousuf seemed unfazed as repeated the word again and again. For those unversed, 'Suar' refers to 'pig' in Hindi and Urdu. Yousuf also accused India of bullying their political intentions on the cricket field and influencing match referee Andy Pycroft into unethical duties.

"India are unable to get out of their filmy world," remarked Yousuf on SAMAA TV channel.

"All the time, films keep running there in this regard. India should be ashamed of the way they are trying to win - using umpires, torturing (Pakistan) by way of match referee, it is a high note."

While mentioning these words, Yousuf repeatedly referred to Surya as Suar despite the anchor's evident effort in correcting him. Clearly, Yousuf used the slur deliberately to take a potshot at India's T20I skipper. After refusing to shake hands with Pakistan players, Suryakumar had also made his team's stance clear at the post-match presentation ceremony and the press conference that followed.

"Our government and BCCI, we were aligned. Together, we came here, we took a call and I feel we came here just to play the game. And we gave the proper reply," said Suryakumar.

"See how it is, I feel a few things in life are ahead of sportsman spirit."

Match referee Andy Pycroft has been in the firing line after he had informed Agha at the toss to not shake hands with Suryakumar. Later, it was alleged that the Zimbabean hadn't informed Pakistan's players about this customised protocol for the match till the game was over. Not surprisingly, PCB boss Mohsin Naqvi took to X to vent his feelings and also lodged a complaint to the ICC, demanding the ouster of Pycroft for the rest of the tournament. That request, however, has officially been rejected by the ICC.