Tensions between India and Pakistan lingered ahead of the Asia Cup final, as the toss interviews were conducted by two presenters - India's Ravi Shastri and Pakistan's Waqar Younis.
For the first time in international cricket history, two former players handled the toss interview, after Pakistan opted not to speak to Shastri amid the bitter pre-final build-up.
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It is understood that among the broadcasters, Shastri, who handled the toss presentations during the previous two India-Pakistan games in the tournament, was originally slated to interview both Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha after the toss.
However, a request was sent to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a neutral presenter. When the ACC went back to BCCI with the request, they had clearly mentioned that Shastri can't be replaced.
As a middle-of-the-road solution, it was decided that Pakistan skipper Salman would speak to his country's pace legend Waqar, while Surya would interact with former India head coach Shastri.
Also, in a departure from convention, Salman did the trophy shoot alone instead of doing it alongside his Indian counterpart.
As per sources in the BCCI, the ACC had never informed them about the toss photo shoot. It is worth noting that even during the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados, there were no photoshoots featuring India and South African skippers Rohit Sharma and Aiden Markram.
(With PTI Inputs)
