No handshakes, big revenues: Indian cricket board’s Pakistan pieties

At a press conference after defeating Pakistan in an Asia Cup match in Dubai on Sunday, Indian cricket captain Suryakumar Yadav expressed solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, paid tribute to Indian soldiers and explained why his men had refused to shake hands with the Pakistan team after the game.

Since the attack in April that left 26 people dead and sparked a conflict between India and Pakistan, New Delhi has said that it has shut off all gates to its neighbour, which it blames for offering support to the terror group behind the killings. Many Indians have demanded a complete economic boycott of Pakistan.

Yadav said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India had acted in total alignment with the policy of the Indian government, which has declared that India would not play bilateral matches against Pakistan, not send teams to Pakistan nor host Pakistan teams in India. But New Delhi said that it would be failing its international obligations if India refused to play Pakistan in multilateral competitions in which other countries were participating too.

By participating in the match in Dubai, the Board of Control for Cricket in India demonstrated that it is attempting to play a complex...

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