- By Himanshu Badola
- Sun, 15 Feb 2026 03:33 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
India vs Pakistan, ICC T20 World Cup 2026: In an interesting turn of events, Suryakumar Yadav will unlikely be shaking hands with Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha at the toss during their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 match 27 at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, February 15. Both teams will be looking to maintain their winning run and officially make it to the Super 8s stage.
As per a report in the Indian Express, the Indian team is expected to maintain their stance, which they started in the Asia Cup last year. The recent development has come just a few hours before the match, and a day after Indian captain Suryakumar remained tight-lipped when asked about the possible handshake with their opponents.
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The India vs Pakistan match will be played after weeks of controversy that took place in the lead-up to the tournament. Earlier, Pakistan decided to boycott the match against India as a gesture of solidarity after Bangladesh's exclusion from the competition. However, their government and the Pakistan Cricket Board took a U-turn after continuous negotiations with the ICC. The two teams last faced each other at the Asia Cup 2025, where the Indian team didn’t shake hands with Pakistan amid the political tensions between the two countries after the Pahalgam Terror Attack and the Operation Sindoor.
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"Wait for 24 hours (on whether there will be handshakes). We are here to play cricket, have good food and sleep," Suryakumar said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
On the other hand, Agha said cricket should be played within the spirit, indicating he’s not averse to shaking hands. "We will see about it tomorrow," Agha said on Saturday. "Cricket should be played in the right spirit. My personal opinion may not matter. But cricket should be played the way it has always been meant to be played. It’s up to them to decide what to do."
India vs Pakistan Squads, T20 World Cup 2026:
India Squad: Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan Squad: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha (c), Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed, Salman Mirza, Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah, Khawaja Nafay