Pakistan and Indian women’s team skippers Sunday avoided shaking hands at the toss for their Women’s World Cup match in continuation of the handshake snub saga originating out of the men’s Asia Cup 2025.
The lack of handshake between Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana and India’s Harmanpreet Kaur comes after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Devajit Saikia said that the policy about Pakistan will remain unchanged in their upcoming clash in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.
In an interview with BBC, the BCCI secretary stated that there was no assurance that Indian players will shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts during their upcoming game in Colombo on October 5.
“I cannot forecast anything, but our relationship with that country [Pakistan] is the same; there is no change in the last week,” said Saikia.
The handshake snub today only adds to the situation which emerged after India’s controversial and widely condemned conduct during the recently concluded Asia Cup 2025, where the men’s team refused to shake hands with Pakistan players and made political statements during post-match ceremonies and press conferences.
India also refused to collect the winners’ trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, who also serves as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Meanwhile, with regards to the today’s fixture regarding women team’s match, it is imperative to know that that Pakistan have never beaten India in women’s ODIs, with the two teams facing each other 11 times, where India has emerged victorious on all occasions.
The tournament is taking place from September 30 to November 2 in India and Sri Lanka, and Pakistan will play all their group-stage matches at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
If Pakistan advance to the semi-final on October 29 and the final on November 2, both matches will also be held in Colombo.
At the toss today, captain Fatima Sana said: “We are going to bowl first because the weather is dry and the pitch looks good,” she said.
“We have great confidence after the qualifiers, and hopefully, we will play good cricket. Hopefully, on this pitch, 250 would be a good total to defend”.
Lineup
Pakistan: Muneeba Ali, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Amin, Rameen Shamim, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Fatima Sana (c), Natalia Pervaiz, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal.
India: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani.
