Indian cricketers should have shaken hands with Pakistanis, says Indian politician

Seasoned Indian politician and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said the spirit of a game should be kept separate from politics and military conflicts, as he reflected on Indian cricketers refusing to shake hands with Pakistani players after their recent match in the ongoing T20 Asia Cup.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Tharoor also said that India should not have played against Pakistan if they felt so strongly about them.

“I personally feel that once the decision had been made to play, if we feel so strongly about Pakistan, we should not have played," the Congress MP said. “But, if we are going to play them, we should play in the spirit of a game, and we should have shaken their hands," he said.

“We have done this before in 1999, when the Kargil war was going on, we were playing the World Cup in England against Pakistan. We were shaking their hands even then because the spirit of the game is a different spirit from what goes on between countries, between armies and so on. That is my view," Tharoor said.

The senior Congress leader further remarked that the reactions from both sides showed a lack of sportsmanship. “If the Pakistani team, having been insulted the first time, decided to insult us back the second time, it shows that the spirit of the game is lacking on both sides," he added.