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Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav maintained the status quo on the handshaking tradition with Pakistan, as he didn't extend his hand to the Men in Green skipper, Salman Agha, at the toss in match 27 of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Colombo on Sunday.
Following the attack in Pahalgam in April last year and rising tensions between the two nations, the senior Indian men's cricket team had refrained from shaking hands with Pakistan players before or after matches throughout the Asia Cup 2025 trilogy. This 'no handshake' trend continued in subsequent encounters between India and Pakistan in various ICC and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments, including the Asia Cup Rising Stars and the Under-19 Cricket World Cup matches. In the match, Pakistan won the toss and decided to field against India in their Group A clash. The high-voltage encounter between India and Pakistan is being played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. After winning the toss, Pakistan skipper Salman Agha said, "We want to bowl first. It looks a bit tacky, so we feel it will assist the bowlers for the first few overs, so we want to use that. We are relaxed in our group and excited for this challenge. Bigger ground than SSC, and the pitch is slower than SSC. Same team for us." Indian captain Suryakumar said, "Not at all, we were looking to bat first. We won the last two games defending, so we don't want to change it. It is an occasion, it's a high-stakes game. This sport teaches you a lot of things, any side can win the game on a given day. Two changes. Abhishek Sharma comes in, and Kuldeep Yadav is in for Arshdeep Singh." The arch-rivals have faced each other eight times in T20 World Cup history. The Men in Blue have secured seven victories, while Pakistan has won only one game. India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah. Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(captain), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan(wicketkeeper), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq. (ANI)
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