Our Bureau
Mumbai
After the Indian cricket team decided to not shake hands with Pakistan’s team there was a heap of controversy as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was not happy with the incident. The PCB decided to lodge an official complaint against the incident to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). However, a senior official of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has commented on the situation stating ‘shaking hands’ as a goodwill gesture and has no written rule regarding it.
The BCCI official made it clear that they stand with the Indian team and believe what the team did was not wrong at all. The senior official stated that there is no law that binds the Indian team to shake hands with the Pakistani side and looking at the state of the dampening political ties between the two nations, it makes no sense for Indian cricket team players to shake hands or have any interaction with the Pakistan cricketers.
“Look, if you read the rule book, there is no specification about shaking hands with the opposition. It is a goodwill gesture and a sort of convention, not law, that is followed globally across the sporting spectrum,” a senior BCCI official stated.
“If there is no law, then the Indian cricket team is not bound to shake hands with an opposition with whom there is a history of a strained relationship,” he added.
On the other hand, the Chief of PCB Mohsin Naqvi had reported through his X account that the board had lodged a complaint to the International Cricket Council (ICC) of the match referee for violation of the Code of Conduct.
“The PCB has lodged a complaint with the ICC regarding violations by the Match Referee of the ICC Code of Conduct and the MCC Laws pertaining to the Spirit of Cricket. The PCB has demanded the immediate removal of the Match Referee from the Asia Cup,” Mohsin Naqvi wrote on ‘X’.
