IND W Vs PAK W: Harmanpreet Kaur & Co Celebrate Record Win, Skip Handshakes With Pakistan After ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 Clash

The Indian women's cricket team secured a memorable victory over Pakistan to begin their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 on Sunday. The Women in Blue completely outplayed their arch-rivals to secure their biggest win over Pakistan by 64 runs.

After the final wicket was taken, the Indian team celebrated in a huddle with captain Harmanpreet Kaur giving Deepti Sharma a bear hug. The team then walked off towards the dressing room and shook hands with the umpires and match officials. As is the new normal, there were no exchange of post match pleasantries between India or Pakistan.

Earlier, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana did not shake hands at the toss in their 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Group A clash at Edgbaston on Sunday, thus continuing a trend that has been present in the matches involving the arch rivals.

It was the second successive ICC tournament where both captains avoided the customary gesture, after it first happened during the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup clash at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. After India won the toss and chose to bat first, Harmanpreet was quick in speaking to broadcaster Mel Jones and didn’t even shake hands with Fatima.

The ‘no handshake policy’ has become a usual feature of India-Pakistan contests since the 2025 Men’s T20I Asia Cup in the UAE, especially after the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.

Former India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Ali Agha also avoided handshakes across three meetings in Dubai and again at the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup clash in Colombo. The same happened during U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup and Rising Stars Men’s Asia Cup meetings too.