Pakistan's captain Salman Ali Agha attended a full-length pre-match press conference ahead of the Asia Cup final against India, to be played in Dubai on Sunday (September 28). It must be noted that he had skipped the pre-match press conference prior to the Super Four fixture against India on September 21. This time, though, Agha was out there answering a variety of questions, including the hotly debated handshake issue.
It has been two weeks since that initial 'no handshake' incident but Agha is firm about what he thought of the whole episode.
"I started playing cricket from 2007, at Under-16 level. I have never seen that there hasn't been a handshake between two teams," said Agha
"My Abbu [father] is a big cricket fan, and he went back 20 more years and said it's never happened that the two teams haven't shaken hands. Even I can't think of a time when it's not happened. Even when India-Pakistan relations were worse, there was always a handshake. So, I don't think not having a handshake is good for cricket."
There will be a customary pre-match photoshoot with the two captains and the Asia Cup trophy ahead of the final. However, it isn't clear whether Suryakumar Yadav will attend it or choose to skip the formality as part of avoiding any interaction with Pakistan players. When asked about this, Agha seemed unfazed and left the ball in India's court.
"It's their wish. If they want to come, they can come; if they don't want to, let them not. We will follow our protocol. The rest is up to them. What else can we do?!"
Both the India-Pakistan games so far have been one-sided games in favour of Suryakumar's men. However, Agha feels that his side has played better cricke than what the numbers suggest. Dwelling on the unpredictable nature of T20 cricket, Agha is confident of Pakistan's chances in this high-stakes encounter.
"We have made more mistakes than them and that is why we have not won matches. If we make fewer mistakes than them, we will win. Whichever team makes fewer mistakes will win, and we will try to make fewer mistakes.
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"Inshallah, you will see us winning tomorrow. Our attempt is to play our best cricket. And we know that if we play our best cricket and execute our plans for 40 overs, then we can beat any team. And we will try to do that."