A promo video of Australia’s sports streaming platform Kayo Sports is in the news these days. This video has now been deleted, but there is a huge controversy regarding it on social media. In this, Australian cricketers made India’s ‘No Handshake Policy’ with Pakistan a subject of joke.
Josh Hazlewood, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Jake Fraser-McGurk and women’s team player Grace Harris were included in this video made for promotional purposes before India’s tour of Australia. The video starts with the statement of anchor Ian Higgins – ‘We know that India is going to come to our place, but we have discovered their biggest weakness.’
After this, co-host Sam Perry points to a handshake and says, ‘He is not particularly fond of the traditional greeting (handshake). So why don’t we make them uncomfortable even before the ball is bowled?
The players then showed off their own alternative greetings – Glenn Maxwell and Fraser-McGurk tried a fist bump, which went comically wrong. Meanwhile, female players Grace Harris and Sophie Molineux imitated some very ridiculous, but creative greetings.
Captain Mitchell Marsh suggested the ‘finger in the ice cup’ gesture – the famous celebration of World Cup-winning batsman Travis Head. Women’s team captain Alyssa Healy mentioned her famous ‘Healy Hands’ gesture, which is quite popular on social media.
Although this video was made for light entertainment, it was called insensitive by Indian fans on social media. Amidst growing opposition, Kayo Sports removed the video.
AUS players pre-India clip mocks India no-handshake theater vs Pak. Why Aussie media & players laughing at stance sold as national pride? @BCCI @JayShah @GautamGambhir @narendramodi @ICC @MithunManhas @vikrantgupta73 @rawatrahul9 @mufaddal_vohra @PadmajaJoshi @ShivAroor pic.twitter.com/lSbuyhEcui
— Maham Fazal (@MahamFazal_) October 14, 2025
The excitement about the white ball series between India and Australia has increased further. Shubman Gill will captain the ODI team in this series of three ODIs and three T20 matches, in which Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will also return. At the same time, Suryakumar Yadav will be the captain in the T20 series starting from October 29 in Canberra.
Actually, Suryakumar Yadav had refused to join hands with Pakistan in the Asia Cup. He later said that this step was taken to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Pahalgam terror attack. After defeating Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav had dedicated the victory to the Indian Army.
However, Pakistan termed this stance as ‘political’ and lodged a formal complaint with the ICC. In response, India also objected to the provocative actions (jet crashing and rifle mimicry) of Pakistani players Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan.
The controversy escalated further when the Indian players refused to accept the trophy from ACC Chairman and Pakistan Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi during the trophy ceremony. The result was that the trophy was removed from the stage without any formal ceremony.
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