Australia troll India cricketers over handshake snub with Pakistan ahead of various format series

ISLAMABAD: As India tour Australia for a multi-format series beginning with three One-Day Internationals from Sunday, a promo by Kayo Sports has stirred controversy for mocking India’s “no-handshake” policy.

The promotional video features several top Australian cricketers — including all-rounders Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh, pacers Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ellis, and batter Matthew Short– performing humorous “alternative greetings” ahead of the upcoming series.

Interestingly, the clip also includes Australia Women’s captain Alyssa Healy, who currently leads her side at the top of the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup standings with seven points and a net run rate of +1.353 after 16 matches of the 31-game event. Healy’s team recently defeated India, chasing down a 331-run target to maintain their dominant position in the tournament.

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In the controversial segment of the video, Healy gestures with flaring fingers and sticks out her tongue in what many fans interpreted as a playful jab. Viewers to a past incident involving Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf, who had once gestured toward Indian fans mimicking jet planes, linked the reference –a symbolic nod to Pakistan’s claimed downing of Indian aircraft in earlier tensions, as reported by Reuters in May.

The promo quickly went viral, drawing mixed reactions from fans worldwide. Many saw it as light-hearted banter, while others criticized it as being in poor taste. Facing backlash, Kayo Sports eventually deleted the video.

Why India handshake reference mattered?

The mention of India’s “handshake snub” refers to the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup, which saw the Indian team repeatedly avoid handshakes with Pakistani players after matches. The gesture, or lack thereof, was widely viewed as an attempt to politicise cricket, despite the India-Pakistan four-day conflict having already ended earlier that year after a ceasefire brokered by the US President Donald Trump.