Pakistan cricket team captain Salman Ali Agha accused the Indian cricket team of “disrespecting” the game by refusing to shake hands with them in their three encounters at the Asia Cup, which saw the Men in Blue winning by five wickets on Sunday. Salman Ali Agha said in his post-Asia Cup final press conference that what happened in the tournament “was very, very bad”. The Indian team, which had not offered handshakes to the Pakistan team in all three encounters with their arch-rivals in the tournament, then also refused to accept the trophy from the Asia Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi. At one in the presser, a journalist confronted the Pakistan captain telling him that players shaking hands is not an official rule.The tournament has seen a few instances of players from the two teams confronting each other. While there were not too many confrontational moments between India and Pakistan in the final, the media contingents from the two nations got into a disagreement in the middle of Salman Ali Agha’s press conference on Sunday after Pakistan’s defeat.You can watch the whole Salman Ali Agha press conference in the video at the bottom of this article.Excerpts from a charged-up post-match press conference by Salman Ali Agha:Question: Overall in this tournament, sometimes the top order collapses for Pakistan. Today, the middle order had a collapse. Pakistan’s batting has been a big issue in this tournament. You are luckily saved by some controversy or the other when you lose. The way things happened today, the entire media focus will be on the trophy not being taken by the Indian team, and your performance will be swept under the rug, so you won’t face as much criticism.Salman Ali Agha (smiles before answering): Sir, we do face criticism. It’s not like that. People who understand cricket talk about cricket. Other things are secondary, and I don’t know why those things that are happening should happen. But we only talk about cricket. We know that we didn’t bat well in this tournament, and what things we need to improve, and we only look at those. We don’t pay attention to other things.Question: Earlier, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were considered the backbone of this Pakistan team. But they were also criticized that there was a strike rate issue. They would play out all 20 overs, and the other batters wouldn’t get a chance. After their departure, we saw in the Asia Cup that the team could lose eight wickets on the trot, or even nine wickets. Today, you couldn’t even play the full overs. As a captain, did Salman Ali Agha miss Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the Asia Cup?Story continues below this adSalman Ali Agha: Sir, this was the same team that was performing very well even before the Asia Cup. We were scoring 180, we were scoring 170. We went to America, we scored runs there too. We played a series at home, we did it there too. Even in Bangladesh, we scored 180. So we can’t talk about any one individual because this team was doing very well before, and this team reached the final of this tournament, won a tri-series. So it’s not that we are missing any player. That’s not the case. But in my opinion, we didn’t finish well today, as you can say. If we had finished well today, we could have scored 170 today as well. So it’s not like that. We feel that this team is also quite good, and this team has a lot of potential, and in the future, you will see that this team will do well too. India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav, right, and Pakistan’s captain Salman Agha walk onto the field before the start of the Asia Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. (AP Photo)Question: First of all, Naeem Gilani (Pakistan media manager), thank you very much. Not only did the Pakistan team display sportsmanship, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (Mohsin Naqvi) also did. You, as the media manager, also did in the way you allowed the Indian media to ask questions. I have to say this because, a little while ago, a 35-minute press conference took place (with India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma), and the Indian manager did not allow Pakistani journalists to ask questions. So I want to say this….(At this point there was an interruption as multiple members of the Indian media contingent spoke up refuting the Pakistan journalist’s claim. Journalists from both sides chirped at each other before the journalist continued his question)Question continues: Yes, this is the difference. We were not allowed to ask questions, yet we didn’t complain, but this is the difference. That day, when you were leaving, you were asked a similar question. I want to know, Salman, you displayed sportsmanship, and Pakistan’s response regarding the handshake was very positive. After that, today you also took a separate picture with the trophy, you took a picture alone, and then today, the Chairman of the Cricket Board (Naqvi) waited a long time. And a little while ago, when the Indian team’s captain came, he did not answer. He had shaken hands with the Chairman of the Cricket Board on the 7th, but he did not give a reason why he did not take the trophy today. I want to know from you what message you are taking back, because players are the ambassadors of their country, and you have played the role of cricket diplomacy between the two countries. As the captain of Pakistan, what would you like to say?Story continues below this adSalman Ali Agha: Sir, what happened in this tournament, I think it is quite disappointing. If you look at cricket, it seems like they are not shaking hands, they are doing all these things, so they are not just disrespecting us they’re disrespecting the game. It is disrespect, and anyone who disrespects cricket will, I believe, have it come out in the open at some point. And I am very sure that it will come out. And what they have done even today, I think, a good team doesn’t do that because good teams act the way we did, like going and taking a photo with the trophy alone, and even after that, we stood there and took our medals. So, whatever they are doing with the game, I think that’s just beyond… like, I don’t know, I don’t want to use very harsh words, but to be very honest, this is very disrespectful to the game, not to anyone. If they are thinking they are showing disrespect to us, I think they are wrong there. They are disrespecting the game, which is, I’m sure, no one, no one is obviously going to second that.Salman Ali Agha: (while responding to an inaudible question): He (Surya) did shake hands with me when we were doing a press conference at the start of the tournament. When the referee’s meeting was happening, he did it there too. But when they come out to the world, when they come out in front of everyone, then they don’t do it. I am sure he would do it if it were up to him… Obviously, he has different instructions, and I think he is just following those, which is fine.Also Read | Asian cricket chief Mohsin Naqvi’s provocative social media reposts one of the reasons for India cricketers refusing to accept trophy from himQuestion: Salman, we have also seen the way the reputation of the Spirit of Cricket has been damaged. Do you think that the ICC should also take notice of these things, and there should be some strict reaction to it? A rule should be made so that such things do not happen again.Salman Ali Agha: Sir, this is happening for the first time. I mean, I have never seen this in my life, neither on TV nor in any game, what has happened with the game in this tournament. I don’t know where these things will stop. I don’t know if any other teams will start after seeing this. I don’t know. Hopefully, they won’t. But whatever happened in this tournament, I think was very, very bad. Hopefully, it will stop at some stage, somewhere. Otherwise, it is really bad.Story continues below this ad India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan’s Salman Agha at the Asia Cup toss. (AP photo)Question: You are mentioning many things that didn’t happen in this tournament. You talked about the handshake issue. You also said you hadn’t seen something like this in a pre-match press conference. My question has two parts: Have you ever seen before a champion team not receiving the trophy, and a team in a multinational tournament skipping a pre-match press conference and skipping their protocols? Have you ever seen all those things before?Salman Ali Agha: Sir, those things were a consequence of something else. You need to look at who started it.Journalist interrupting Agha: Sir, shaking hands is not a rule.Salman Ali Agha: Sir, if he (Naqvi) is the President of the ACC, then he is the one who will give the trophy, right? If you don’t take the trophy from him, then how will you get the trophy? That is the point. And you are saying that the pre-match press conference didn’t happen(when Salman Ali Agha had skipped the press conference after the first game against India). Those things happened after the incidents that took place on the field, right? We didn’t start it straight away. It started after the things that happened on the field. So, it’s not about who is doing it. It’s about something wrong happening with the game. So I’m just saying that. Something wrong shouldn’t happen with the game.Story continues below this adQuestion: You win against Oman, you win against Sri Lanka, you win against the UAE, you win against Bangladesh. You lose to India 3-0. You have lost the last eight matches 8-0. Have you done an analysis of your team?Salman Ali Agha: Yes, sir, absolutely. We know that we are not playing good cricket against them right now. And you will see that if you look at the overall record, we are still quite ahead of them. So this means that every team has an era. Maybe their era is going on right now. And cricket is such that eras run, and after that, just like we used to beat them in the 90s. Similarly, maybe today you can say it’s their era, so they are defeating us this way. And you will see very soon that we will start defeating them the way they are defeating us now. So the game of cricket is such that it runs with eras, and it will continue to run this way in the future as well.Also Read | Asia Cup | BCCI secy Devajit Saikia to Pak board chief Mohsin Naqvi: ‘Return Trophy and medals as soon as possible’Question: Salman Bhai, as you said that cricketers are ambassadors for their respective countries. So, whatever happened here, especially today during the trophy ceremony, whatever we saw, you are also role models for young cricketers. So, how much of a negative image is this sending? I am not talking about both teams; I am talking about cricket in general.Salman Ali Agha: Sir, even if I was not the captain of Pakistan right now and was just a cricket fan, I would not support this thing, sir, because it is wrong. If a child is watching at home, whether from Pakistan or India, what message are we sending to them, sir? We are certainly not sending a good message because people consider us role models. So, if we, as role models, start acting like this, then we are not inspiring anyone, or if we are inspiring them, we are doing it for the wrong thing. So, I still say that I think whatever happened was wrong and should not have happened. Now, those who did it should obviously be asked these questions. You are asking me. But I will never say that this is a good thing, sir.