The captains of Pakistan and India’s women’s cricket teams avoided shaking hands at the toss during their ICC Women’s World Cup match on October 5, 2025. This move continues the handshake snub saga, which began during the men’s Asia Cup earlier this year.
Pakistan’s Fatima Sana and India’s Harmanpreet Kaur walked past each other without exchanging pleasantries, in a continuation of the strained relations between the two teams. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary, Devajit Saikia, had earlier indicated that there would be no change in their policy towards Pakistan for this match, a sentiment echoed during an interview with BBC.
Saikia made it clear that there was no guarantee that Indian players would shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts, stating, “I cannot forecast anything, but our relationship with that country [Pakistan] is the same; there is no change in the last week.”
The incident today adds to the ongoing diplomatic tensions that started after India’s controversial actions during the men’s Asia Cup 2025. The Indian men’s team not only refused to shake hands with Pakistan players but also made politically charged statements during post-match ceremonies and press conferences. In another highly publicized incident, India declined to collect the winners’ trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Regarding today’s Women’s World Cup fixture, it is noteworthy that Pakistan has never defeated India in women’s ODIs. The two teams have met 11 times in the format, with India winning on all occasions.
The ongoing tournament, taking place from September 30 to November 2 in India and Sri Lanka, sees Pakistan playing all their group-stage matches at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo. If Pakistan advances to the semi-finals and final, both of those matches will also be held in Colombo.
At the toss, Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana explained their decision to bowl first, citing dry weather and a favorable pitch. “We have great confidence after the qualifiers, and hopefully, we will play good cricket. Hopefully, on this pitch, 250 would be a good total to defend,” she said.
Here are the lineups for today’s match:
Pakistan: Muneeba Ali, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Amin, Rameen Shamim, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Fatima Sana (c), Natalia Pervaiz, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal.
India: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani.
