Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss and asked India to bat first as Suryakumar Yadav and his team continued with their hardline stance of ‘No Handshake’ policy during the toss of their T20 World Cup clash in Colombo on Sunday.
Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh were replaced by the fit Abhishek Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav, respectively, in India’s two changes to their playing XI. Pakistan named an unchanged team.
After winning the toss, 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. It’s a big game. We all know that. But in our group we all are very, very relaxed now. And we’re just focusing on the game and we’re very excited for this challenge. Bigger ground than SSC and the pitch is slower than SSC. But we have been playing on these kind of pitches for the last six months. So we have an idea how to play on these pitches as well. Same team for us.”
After losing the toss, Suryakumar Yadav said, “We were looking to bat first. We’ve seen the results here, and we’ve batted in the last two games and won both the games defending, so we don’t want to change anything. (On the big occasion) I think it’s easy to say that it’s just another game, but it is an occasion. These games are always very high stakes, but at the same time, you’ve got to know what you want to do. That’s more important. Stay in the present, back your skills, put your A game forward and be yourself. (Does form count?) This sport teaches you a lot of things. On a given day, if you’re going well, then anyone can have a good day. Two changes. Abhishek Sharma comes in and Kuldeep Yadav comes in for Arshdeep Singh.”
Before the toss, a BCCI official in Colombo had confirmed that the “The No handshake Policy will continue”.
The players and support staff of the two teams not shaking hands after the game, has been a custom since the Asia Cup that Suryakumar has adhered to as a sign of solidarity with the Indian Army following Operation Sindoor and respect for the families of those killed in the Pahalgam terror attack.
The fact that neither Surya nor Salman agreed to shake hands while the Pakistan captain said he wanted to “uphold” the spirit of cricket made it evident that the status quo had been preserved.
The Indian squad is still dealing with the emotional fallout from the April Pahalgam terror assault. At the Asia Cup pre-tournament captain’s press conference in Dubai, Suryakumar shook hands with PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, which sparked a massive uproar.
Teams:
India XI: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha (c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Khan (w), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq
