India will be looking to retain their crown as they step on the field to begin their campaign in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 against Thailand on August 30 (Sunday).
However, the biggest match of the group stage is set to take place on Saturday, September 5, when they take on their arch-rivals Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium. However, the biggest question is whether India and Pakistan players will shake hands before and after the match. Now, India head coach Amol Muzumdar has given an answer on what would happen.
In the pre-match press conference before the game against Thailand, Amol Muzumdar said that they always focus on the cricket and not what happens off field.
“Look, we try to play the best cricket on the ground and off-the-field stuff, we don’t focus on it. We try to play the best cricket that we know on that particular day and we will speak about this when we play that game. But at the moment, we are focusing on tomorrow’s game. One game at a time,” Amol Muzumdar said.
India’s No-Handshake Policy Vs Pakistan
Following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025, the BCCI introduced a strict no-handshake policy for all matches against Pakistan. This rule began during the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup, where Suryakumar Yadav’s team avoided shaking hands with Salman Ali Agha’s squad across all three of their matches, including the final.
Since that tournament, the policy has been strictly followed across all levels of Indian cricket, including senior men’s, women’s, and even junior age group teams.
The Indian women’s team upheld the rule during their ODI World Cup 2025match against Pakistan in Colombo. The protocol was also followed at the Men’s Rising Stars Asia Cup the following month.
This firm stance continued through major global and youth events. No handshakes were exchanged during the two Under-19 Asia Cup matches in December 2025, nor at the Under-19 World Cup and Men’s T20 World Cup in February 2026.
Most recently, Harmanpreet Kaur led the Indian women’s team in maintaining the policy, as they chose not to shake hands with the Pakistani players during their Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 match in Birmingham.