Explained: Why Pakistan’s Mohammad Ali refused to shake hands with England skipper Ben Stokes

An unusual and nearly controversial moment saw Pakistan tailender batter Mohammad Ali refusing to shake England captain Ben Stokes’ hand. The incident came right at the end, right before Pakistan lost their final wicket, handing England historic back-to-back Test wins. 

Pakistan were 26 runs behind England on the final day, chasing a total of 355 with just one wicket in hand. Ali edged a ball and was caught behind. The umpire gave him out but Ali decided to take a DRS anyway. The review halted England’s victory celebrations for a brief period.

However, Stokes was convinced that the dismissal would stand and went on to shake hands with Ali. However, the Pakistan player refused to shake Stokes’ hand, gesturing to him something as the two exchanged a few words. The video of the incident was widely shared on social media. Watch below:

pic.twitter.com/YM3VhzZAsG

— Guess Karo (@KuchNahiUkhada) December 12, 2022

The reason that Ali did not shake Stokes’ hand at the moment was because the match wasn’t officially over with the third umpire decision still pending. However, Ali himself approached Stokes and shook his hand when he was given out and the match was officially over. 

The win took England to a famous Test series win against Pakistan with a 2-0 lead. The game also saw another controversy in the dismissal of Pak batter Saud Shakeel. 

Shakeel was caught by England keeper Ollie Pope but the catch was not entirely clean. Ben Stokes, however, backed Pope and said that he believed the catch was clean and he had “no doubt” in his mind. On the other hand, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam believed that the catch was the turning point and cost his team the match. 

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