4 min learnUp to date: Jun 14, 2026 07:00 PM IST
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana didn’t shake fingers on the toss of their Ladies’s T20 World Cup conflict at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday.
The captains didn’t shake fingers on the toss for the second straight ICC event assembly between the arch-rivals, following the same occasion throughout the 2025 Ladies’s ODI World Cup match on the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo final October. India gained the toss and opted to bat first.
“We’ll bat first. I believe it’s an excellent pitch to bat on, so we simply thought let’s bat and set an honest whole on the board. (Does profitable a World Cup give them confidence?) Properly, I believe all of us are very excited. The final World Cup positively has given us loads of confidence, and we simply wish to carry that confidence to this World Cup. (Have you ever been happy with the build-up?) Sure, positively. We have now plugged loads of areas and now it’s solely about taking part in good cricket, and we’re trying ahead to that. Bharti’s taking part in at present. And yeah, Yastika did very well, however at present we considered going with Bharti. We’re going with three spinners and two medium pacers,” Harmanpreet stated on the toss.
India omitted Yastika Bhatia from the facet which performed the England T20Is, and Bharti Fulmali was slotted in to bat at quantity 5 within the taking part in XI. Jemimah Rodrigues was slotted to bat at quantity three.
The toss goes India’s means! 💙#HarmanpreetKaur opts to bat first because the Ladies in Blue gear up for cricket’s best rivalry. 🇮🇳🏏
ICC Ladies’s #T20WorldCup 2026 | #INDvPAK | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/njSue0M5uR pic.twitter.com/elIW1UBu7P
— Star Sports activities (@StarSportsIndia) June 14, 2026
The reigning ODI World Cup champions determined to go in with three spinners – Deepti Sharma, Sree Charani and Shreyanka Patil – and two pacers in Arundhati Reddy and Kranti Gaud.
The absence of a handshake has turn into the norm in India-Pakistan cricket because the 2025 Asia Cup within the United Arab Emirates.
Former India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha additionally prevented handshakes in all three conferences on the continental occasion, in addition to throughout their conflict on the 2026 Males’s T20 World Cup in Colombo.
Requested earlier than the match whether or not she anticipated a handshake with Sana, Harmanpreet selected to not interact with the subject, including that the sport mattered greater than the gesture.
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“Properly, I believe we’re right here for cricket, and we solely speak about cricket; besides cricket, we don’t speak about something, and I don’t even take into consideration something besides cricket. Cricket has been our dream from day one, and we solely talk about cricket. For tomorrow’s recreation, we’re solely pondering that it’s one other recreation that we’re going to play.”
“Undoubtedly, strain goes to be there, which I earlier conform to that – at any time when we play in opposition to Pakistan strain shall be there – however on the similar time, it’s solely about how we’re going to take pleasure in that strain as a result of in any Worldwide recreation, strain goes to be there; it’s solely about giving your 100% in that recreation and having fun with every second,” she stated.
India lead Pakistan 6-2 in Ladies’s T20 World Cup conferences and have gained 4 of their final 5 T20Is in opposition to their neighbours.