3 min readUpdated: Sep 5, 2026 07:37 PM IST
In Dubai, at an Asia Cup fixture, India and Pakistan cricket captains have avoided shaking hands again.
The handshake saga between the Indian and Pakistani cricket teams continued at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, as the two sides skipped the customary pre-toss pleasantry exchange during their Women’s Asia Cup fixture. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her Pakistani counterpart, Fatima Sana, went through the toss without shaking hands.
With this, it has now been nearly a year since the two teams have not been shaking hands on the field of cricket. The trend began on September 14 last year, at the same venue and in the same tournament — then the men’s edition of the Asia Cup. Played in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam attack, the fixture saw then-Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav decline to shake hands with his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha. India won the match, after which Yadav dedicated the victory to the Indian Armed Forces. The two teams also didn’t shake hands at the end of the match.
The two sides met twice more in that tournament, with handshakes skipped on both occasions. This was followed by India refusing to accept the Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman who is also president of the Asian Cricket Council.
The following month, the Indian women’s team followed suit, avoiding the gesture during a Women’s World Cup match in Colombo. The tradition — if it can be called that, given that it is nearing a one-year anniversary — has since extended beyond the senior teams, with handshakes absent at Under-19 World Cup and Asia Cup Rising Stars meetings between India and Pakistan as well.
The freeze, however, appears confined to cricket. The two nations’ hockey teams did a high-five gesture as recently as their FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup fixture in Amstelveen.
As for cricketing matters, Pakistan won the flip of the coin and asked India to bowl first — which they have not done yet in this tournament. “We want to put a maximum total first. We know we have a good bowling side, we want to restrict them,” she said.
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Harmanpreet, for whom this is a landmark occasion regardless of the impending result, considering this is her 150th T20I match as a captain, exuded confidence in her bowling unit. “Our bowling has been great in this tournament, good opportunity to bowl first.”
