India Pakistan No Hand Shake Harmanpreet Kaur Fatima Sana Mohsin Naqvi. Image Credits: AFP
On Sunday, June 14, India women kickstarted their T20 World Cup campaign when they locked horns against arch-rivals Pakistan. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side extended their impressive run against the Women in Green by handing them an embarrassing 64-run win.
Besides cricket, another important doubt that was put to rest was that the two teams decided to extend the no-handshake policy.
India And Pakistan Opt For No Handshake
Since the two countries nearly headed for a war in May 2025, India and Pakistan have met each other on five occasions (3 times in the Asia Cup, 1 time in the T20 World Cup, 1 time in the WODI World Cup) and have not greeted each other with a handshake.
Suryakumar Yadav and his men were the first to start this trend in the 2025 Asia Cup, and Harmanpreet Kaur’s team extended the ritual on Sunday, when she refused to shake hands with Pakistan captain Fatima Sana. Further, there was no post-match handshake as well.
It created a stir on social media, but there were no surprises, actually. Harmanpreet Kaur was asked about it prior to the match, but the India captain clearly dodged answering such questions.
Pakistan Coach Breaks Silence On No Handshake
While the Indian camp refused to comment on this matter, Pakistan women's head coach Wahab Riaz did address it in a post-match presser. The former left-arm seamer made a controversial remark, for which he is receiving the flak as well.
Wahab stated that he had left playing cricket a long time ago, which is why he is unaware of the reason behind the two teams not greeting each other in ICC events. However, he added that he doesn’t mind if the tradition continues.
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"See, I don't know, I just left cricket way before, so I don't know the reason for not shaking hands. But I think if things want to move like this, let's go like that," the head coach added to reporters. "It won't make a big difference."
India extends lead to 7-2 in T20 World Cups
With the emphatic win, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side extended their lead to 7-2 in Women’s T20 World Cup history. Interestingly, Pakistan have won just two matches, which were in the 2012 and 2015 T20 World Cup. Hence, it has now been 11 years since the Women in Green tasted success against the Indian side in the Women’s T20 World Cup.
It was a brilliant display of cricket across departments. The Women in Blue, batting first, lost two early wickets, but veterans Smriti Mandhana’s fifty and Harmanpreet Kaur’s nearly run-a-ball 36 helped India put 170 runs on the board.
Pakistan, on the other hand, got off to a contrasting start and stitched a 38-run stand for the 1st wicket. However, Deepti Sharma triggered a collapse, and her five-wicket haul reduced the Fatima Sana-led side to just 106.
Deepti Sharma won the player of the match for 5/10 and 12 (9) with the bat.
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