Top five most controversial moments of Indian cricket in 2025

India were whitewashed by South Africa in a home Test series to close out 2025, which saw them drop below Pakistan in the ICC WTC 2025-27 points table.

Team India had a pretty successful 2025, where they finished as the number one team in ODI and T20I cricket. They dominated white-ball cricket wherever they played. They started the year by winning the ICC Champions Trophy in March and then finished the year with a T20I series win against Australia and an ODI and T20I series win against South Africa.

The year also saw India’s graph decline in Test cricket, marked by a loss to South Africa in a home Test series. The pitches were heavily criticised and India’s inability to win at home was heavily criticised as well. The batters failed to play top-quality spin and as a side, they finished at number four in the ICC Test rankings.

In the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 (WTC) campaign, they lost crucial points after losing the Test series against the Proteas. This meant that India finished at number six on the WTC 2025-27 table to close out the year.

T20I cricket brought a lot of success to the team. India won 16 out of the 22 matches they played this year, losing just three matches. This included an Asia Cup title win under Suryakumar Yadav. Though the captain was out of form for most of the year, his leadership brought the team much success.

Another major change that happened in 2025 was the change of leadership in ODI and Test cricket. Shubman Gill was named India’s new Test captain and he also took over ODI captaincy from Rohit Sharma, whose last match as India’s ODI captain was the Champions Trophy 2025 final against New Zealand.

While there was much success for the Indian team, they had their fair share of controversy as well throughout the year. In this article, we take a look at the top five most controversial moments in 2025 related to Indian cricket.

Five most controversial moments of Indian cricket in 2025

5. India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan to play Champions Trophy

Team India refused to travel to Pakistan to play in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Pakistan, being the defending champions of this event, were the official hosts of this tournament as well. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were very clear of their stance of not sending their players to Pakistan and stood their ground as well.

After much discussion, it was decided that players from both teams will not travel to the respective countries to play bilateral and ICC events and any scheduled event between the two teams will be played at a neutral venue during ICC events. Finally, Dubai was chosen as the venue for matches between the two teams in the Champions Trophy. India played all their matches in Dubai and were crowned champions.

4. No-handshake controversy with Pakistan in Asia Cup 2025

The next big controversy is related to the Asia Cup 2025. The Indian players, under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, denied shaking hands with the Pakistani players throughout the tournament. India played three matches against Pakistan in the tournament and won all three of them. In none of the games did the Indian players shake hands with the Pakistani players.

Former and current players of Pakistan did criticise the move from the Indian players. However, the BCCI and the Indian players took this stance in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack earlier in the year, where terrorists killed 26 innocent civilians. Later, the Indian women’s team denied shaking hands with their counterparts in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.

3. The Asia Cup Trophy row

The third biggest controversy related to Indian cricket was also from the Asia Cup 2025. The Indian players, after winning the Asia Cup final against Pakistan, denied receiving the trophy from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi. Naqvi was present at the podium to give the trophy to the Indian team after the final, but the players did not take the trophy from him.

Responding to this move from the Indian team, he took the trophy away and locked it in ACC’s office in Dubai and the Indian team are yet to officially receive the trophy after winning the final. India’s decision not to take the Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi was because of Pakistan’s involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year.

2. Shukri Conrad’s “grovel” comment

The next big controversial moment in Indian cricket came from the recent Test series between India and South Africa. South Africa won the series 2-0, but a controversial comment made by Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad soured the relations between the two countries somewhat.

In the second Test between the two sides in Guwahati, Conrad was asked about the Proteas batters not willing to declare despite having a big lead in the second innings.

Responding to that query from an Indian journalist, he said that they wanted to make the Indian team “grovel”. His statement was not well received by the Indian fans and cricket experts who even asked him to apologise.

He did later clarify in his next presser what exactly he meant by the statement, but by then, things had already gone beyond control. Among the cricket experts asking Conrad to apologise was former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was part of the commentary team in the Test series.

1. Chinnaswamy stampede after RCB’s IPL 2026 win

The biggest cricketing mishap that rocked Indian cricket in 2025 was the stampede that happened in the Chinnaswamy Stadium after Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB ) won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 final, beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) on June 3, 2025.

It was their first IPL title after a long wait of 18 years. However, the happiness was short-lived as what followed shocked the entire city of Bengaluru.

On June 4, a huge gathering that had gathered at the Chinnaswamy stadium remained witness to an unfortunate stampede that claimed 11 lives and left more than 50 injured.

The unfortunate incident left the RCB players sad and disappointed. Reports said that the Karnataka government announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakhs per victim, suspended police officials, and arrested event organisers.

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