Ponting targeted with abuse after fake handshake quote spreads on social media

Ricky Ponting has been subjected to abuse after a wave of social media posts falsely claimed he criticised India’s refusal to shake hands with their Pakistani opponents after their Asia Cup Twenty20 game.

In the first match between India and Pakistan since the brief conflict in April that followed a terror attack in Kashmir, India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and his team declined to shake hands with the Pakistan team either at the coin toss or after the game, which took place Monday morning (AEST).

This led to a fake social media post attributing comments to Ponting that criticised India as “the big loser” on the night because of those actions. Ponting is the coach of the Punjab Kings IPL franchise.

As has become common, the fake comment was then picked up and churned across social media and news websites, and continued to be prominently shared well into Tuesday.

The fake post claimed Ponting had made the remarks on the British pay TV channel Sky Sports, which is not broadcasting the tournament. Australian players such as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood had also been falsely attributed as commenting critically about India or Pakistan during the April conflict.

Ponting’s manager James Henderson emphatically reiterated that the former Australian captain had not made the comments. “The quotes are completely false,” he said. “Ricky categorically did not make those comments.”

India’s refusal to shake hands or acknowledge the Pakistan players followed a decision by the Indian government to allow sporting contact to continue between the two countries in multilateral tournaments but not in bilateral matches – formalising a custom that has been in place since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

After the game, Suryakumar explained why the team had elected to abandon sportsmanship.

“Our government and BCCI, we were aligned. Together, we came here, we took a call and I feel we came here just to play the game. And we gave the proper reply,” Suryakumar said in Dubai. “I feel a few things in life are ahead of sportsman spirit.

“I have told it at the presentation as well that we actually stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. And we stand with their families also, express our solidarity. Also, as I said at the post-match presentation, we dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor. And as they continue to inspire us all, we will try our best whenever given an opportunity to inspire them as well, if possible.”

Pakistan retaliated to the handshake snub by declining to send their captain, Salman Ali Agha, to the post-match presentation after India won the game comfortably.

“Obviously, we were ready to shake hands at the end of the game,” Pakistan’s coach Mike Hesson said. “We were disappointed that our opposition didn’t do that.

“We sort of went over there to shake hands and they were already going to the changing room. That was a disappointing way for the match to play [out]. In a match that we were disappointed in the way we played, but certainly we were willing to go and shake hands.”

Pakistan were informed before the game by match referee Andy Pycroft that there would be no handshake at the coin toss. The PCB’s chair Mohsin Naqvi has since called for the removal of Pycroft from the panel of officials for the rest of the tournament, but the International Cricket Council, chaired by former Indian board impresario Jay Shah, has not done so.

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“The PCB has lodged a complaint with the ICC regarding violations by the match referee of the ICC code of conduct and the MCC laws pertaining to the spirit of cricket. The PCB has demanded an immediate removal of the match referee from the Asia Cup,” Naqvi said in a verified social media post on Monday.

Earlier, Naqvi had criticised the lack of handshakes shared between the teams.

“Utterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship today,” he wrote. “Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports. Let’s hope future victories are celebrated by all teams with grace.”

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