India Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur Refuses Handshake With Pakistan Captain Fatima Sana In Women's T20 World Cup 2026 Clash

Women's T20 World Cup 2026, India vs Pakistan: Team India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur maintained the no-handshake policy with her Pakistani counterpart, Fatima Sana, during the toss of the high-voltage Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 clash at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Sunday, June 14.

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India Maintain No-Handshake Policy With Pakistani Counterpart 

India has continued to enforce a no-handshake policy with Pakistan in sporting events ever since the barbaric terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives.

Earlier, former Indian men’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands with Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha during each of their three encounters at the Asia Cup 2025 in the UAE. He maintained the same stance in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 as well, when India faced Pakistan in the group-stage clash.

This approach has also been mirrored in women’s and junior cricket. Harmanpreet Kaur ignored her Pakistani counterpart, Fatima Sana, during their Women’s World Cup showdown in Colombo in October last year. Similarly, the junior team led by Ayush Mhatra upheld the policy during both the U-19 Asia Cup and the U-19 World Cup.

India Win Toss, Opt To Bat Against Pakistan

Before the start of the highly anticipated Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 clash on June 14, India won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

While speaking at the toss, Harmanpreet Kaur said that the Women's ODI World Cup last year helped them to exude confidence.

"We will bat first. I think it's a very good pitch to bat on, so we just thought let's bat and set a decent total on the board. (Does winning a World Cup give them confidence?) Well, I think we all are very excited. The last World Cup definitely has given us a lot of confidence and we just want to carry that confidence to this World Cup. (Have you been pleased with the build-up?) Yes, definitely. We have plugged a lot of areas and now it's only about playing good cricket and we are looking forward to that. Bharti's playing today. And yeah, Yastika did really well, but today we thought of going with Bharti. We are going with three spinners and two medium pacers," Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss, as quoted by Cricbuzz.

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India Women Playing XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (Wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud.

Pakistan Women Playing XI: Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (Wk), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Aliya Riaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Fatima Sana (C), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Tasmia Rubab, Sadia Iqbal.