T20 World Cup: India Captain Harmanpreet Kaur Refuses Handshake With Pakistan’s Fatima Sana

New Delhi: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur refused to shake hands with Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana. This happened before their Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match on Sunday, June 14.
Harmanpreet won the toss and chose to bat first. After the toss, she walked straight to commentator Mel Jones. She completely ignored Fatima Sana. Once the interview ended, she walked away without any acknowledgement.

From a policy to a pattern?

Indian cricketers have been avoiding handshakes with Pakistani players for over a year now. It started during the men's Asia Cup in 2025. The same thing happened at the Rising Stars Asia Cup. It repeated at the Under-19 Asia Cup. Then again at the Under-19 World Cup.
Last year's Women's World Cup saw the same moment. Harmanpreet had skipped the handshake with Sana back then too. Before Sunday's game, she was asked about it. She kept her answer short. She said the team is focused on cricket, nothing else.

Who is in the Teams?

India played three spinners. Bharati Fulmali got the nod over Yastika Bhatia. Pakistan gave Sadia Iqbal her World Cup debut. Fatima Sana confirmed her knee is fine.
Pakistan XI: Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (wk), Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, Natalia Pervaiz, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana (c), Rameen Shamim, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal, Tasmia Rubab
India XI: Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Bharti Fulmali, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy

India have a 13-3 record against Pakistan in Women's T20Is. They will look to make it 14-3 on Sunday.