India skipper Suryakumar Yadav stayed mum when he was asked whether his team would shake hands with the Pakistani players during the T20 World Cup 2026 Group A clash in Colombo on Sunday (February 15).
During the Asia Cup 2025, Suryakumar and his men refrained from shaking hands with their Pakistani counterparts as the games were played amidst heightened tensions between two nations following the Pahalgam terror attack and retaliatory Operation Sindoor.
The arch-rivals faced each other thrice in the continental event and India emerged victorious on all occasions, including the title clash. In all three meetings, the Men in Blue refused to shake hands and exchange post-match pleasantries with the Pakistan players, who also engaged in provocative gestures on the field.
Hence, it was not surprising that Surya was asked about handshake on the eve of the T20 World Cup fixture against Pakistan. However, the Indian captain avoided giving a definitive answer, telling the mediapersons to wait for 24 hours.
“Wait for 24 hours. Eat well, sleep well, we will see tomorrow,” Suryakumar said in a pre-match presser on Saturday.
When another question was posed on similar lines, he replied, “Let's break the suspense tomorrow. I just spoke about it. What's more important? You tell me. The game is important. Let's play the match first. Whether the handshake happens at the toss or not, we will see that tomorrow. Let's just wait 24 hours.”
The political tensions nearly derailed Sunday’s encounter. Just a week before the competition, Pakistan’s government announced a boycott of the India match, only to reverse the decision after an ICC delegation went to Lahore to discuss the matter with the PCB officials.
Commenting on playing against Pakistan, Suryakumar said, “We were prepared for all fixtures. We had to play a game against Pakistan on February 15. Our flights were booked for this game. We were prepared to play four league games. We were only focused on the preparation and what we needed to do."
“In my view, if you play any game, there is always pressure. And when you play an India-Pak game, it's more about the occasion. It's a big platform, obviously. So, no matter how much you say that it's just another game, we want to play cricket. Back of the mind, it's a human tendency that you know which game you are going to play. And we don't play them often as well. We don't even play them regularly. But at the end of the day, we try to keep things simple. Whatever hard work or practice we have done, we try to execute it in games. And we try to place our best foot forward on the ground,” he further remarked.
