India beat Pakistan soundly by seven wickets in the latest encounter of the Asia Cricket cup at the Dubai International stadium.
After their victory the Indian team led by their captain walked off the field without the courtesy or decency to shake hands with the Pakistani team. This act of sheer arrogance by the Indian side is against all cannons of Fair play, justice or even basic spirit of sportsmanship. In this match the two nuclear powered neighbors had met for the first time since the military clash of May 2025 in which Pakistan gave the Indians a bloody nose and something cry to about. This incident has ignited anger and outrage in Pakistan with the PCB lodging a formal protest and the Pakistani skipper Salman Ali Agha boycotting his post-match media duties. Head coach Mike Hesson voiced his disappointment: “We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game, but our opposition did not do that. We sort of went over there to shake hands, and they had already gone into the changing room.” “That was a disappointing way for the match to finish, and a match we were disappointed for the way we played, but we were certainly willing to shake hand.”
True to tradition India has once again proved that it is the big bully on the block ready to show its true colors at all times and not even ashamed of dragging politics into sports too. After their shameful behavior the Indian captain had the cockiness to declare “We dedicate this victory to our armed forces who took part in ‘Operation Sindoor’ and stand with families of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. India the Nuclear armed nation is the most populous country of South Asia with more than 15000 KM of land borders with its neighboring countries such as Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and even Sri Lanka. One by one all of India’s neighbors are now turning rebellious and refusing to accept the Indian dominance or bullying tactics displayed over the past many years. Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka it is the same story with violent regime changes, economic failure and rising wave of nationalist and anti-Indian sentiments. Narender Modi led India is desperately struggling to maintain its dominance and prove its credentials as a regional power and this dream sounds ridiculous by its utter failure to maintain friendly or cordial relations with its immediate neighbors.
The best example of failed Indian ambitions is Bangladesh. For years and years Sheikh Hasina danced to the tune of New Delhi and then in August 2024 she was booted out by an avalanche of angry young students forcing her to take shelter in India. Today hiding in India she is a true reminder of the political miscalculations of the Indian leaders. India put all its money on one single leader and totally ignored public opinion and public grievances. The interim government in Dhaka, led by Muhammad Yunus, wasted little time in distancing itself from India. Whether by design or necessity, it has embraced a more skeptical stance, openly questioning India’s overreach. Trade rows, revoked transit rights, and rhetorical jabs have replaced the bonhomie of yesteryears. The Chief Advisor’s assertion that Bangladesh is the “guardian of the ocean” for India’s Northeast was more than a symbolic provocation; it was a direct challenge to Delhi’s self-image as the subcontinent’s natural hegemon. India’s retaliation — revoking transshipment rights and banning jute imports — has only hardened perceptions that Delhi still sees Dhaka not as an equal partner, but as a subordinate.
After Bangladesh another close Indian neighbor Nepal has had the misfortune of being caught in the Tug of War between India and China since the 1960s Indo-China war. Nepal is now the second Indian neighbor to topple its govt. by mass protests and street agitations led by young students. Nepal too was simply fed up with the Indian meddling in its domestic affairs. The flight and resignation of PM KP Sharma Oli is the same pattern as seen in Colombo and Dhaka. Unlike Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, Nepal shares a uniquely intimate relationship with India — an open border, deep cultural and religious ties, and a sizable diaspora embedded in Indian society. Yet even here, the fault lines are widening. The happenings in Kathmandu and the protest movement all over Nepal are a clear sign that the younger generation of Nepal are totally fed up with their dysfunctional political leadership and see I India as an intrusive meddling neighbor poking its nose in their internal affairs. The flirtation of PM Oli with China was one way of expressing their anger and frustration and they have made it abundantly clear that they will now not live under the shadow of Indian dominance.
Pakistan continues to be in the line of fire of the Indian saffron brigade and the believers of Hindutva. Across the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka and the Maldives provide further reminders of Delhi’s waning influence. In Colombo, the 2022 uprising that chased Gotabaya Rajapaksa into exile was a warning shot, not only for Sri Lankan elites but also for India. While Delhi scrambled to provide fuel and financial aid, China quietly consolidated its grip through debt and infrastructure deals. In the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu’s “India Out” campaign was more than electoral sloganeering — it was a nationalist rebuke of India’s military presence. Today, Male openly courts Beijing, while Delhi faces the humiliation of seeing its once-unquestioned influence erode on the very atoll where it once stationed its soldiers. India today seems to have crossed all lines of civil and decent behavior.
There is a thin line of difference between nationalism and arrogance the ugly behavior exhibited in Dubai by the Indian team and its captain prove once again the extremely toxic and ugly relationship between India and Pakistan. The refusal of the Indian side to shake hands after the match shows the radical and jaundiced mind set of the Indian players who showed no remorse in tarnishing the name of cricket that was well in line with the disgust and otherness of the Hindutva-driven dispensation in New Delhi.
It is quite unfortunate that India has crossed the brink of etiquettes and decency, as its cricket board and players declare from the pulpit their animosity towards Pakistan, stating that they are in the field merely for the compulsions of ICC conventions and not out of free will. If that is the case, the boys and their supervisors should also be reminded that goodwill gestures such as compassion towards fellow-players, greetings and humility in adversity are canons of sportsmanship.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
