T20 World Cup: How India vs Pakistan relations went from bad to worse

When India and Pakistan walk out for their T20 World Cup clash on Sunday, the players will carry with them more than batting averages and bowling figures; they will shoulder the weight of a 78-year geopolitical feud that has now poisoned every ritual of cricket diplomacy. What began as a routine tournament fixture has become the most politically charged encounter in the competition’s history, a microcosm of a relationship that has spiralled from uneasy coexistence to open sporting hostility.

The rupture can be traced to a single moment in May 2025, when artillery shells and air-raid sirens replaced the usual summer buzz along the border. A four-day cross-border conflict—sparked by an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir—left the nuclear-armed neighbours closer to war than at any point in two decades. Cricket, the secular religion of South Asia, was always going to feel the after-shocks; few anticipated how completely it would be re-engineered as an extension of state rhetoric.

The first tremor came at the toss of the Asia Cup group stage in September. India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav, 35, bypassed the customary handshake with Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha, a gesture so small it was almost missed by broadcasters yet so loaded it ignited a firestorm on both sides of the Radcliffe Line. After India sealed victory with two balls to spare, Yadav and Shivam Dube turned on their heels and disappeared into the dressing room, leaving the Pakistani XI standing in a huddle waiting for handshakes that never arrived. Yadav later confirmed the snub was pre-meditated, invoking the Kashmir attack: “A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit.”

The ripple effects were immediate. Pakistan’s next assignment, against UAE, was delayed by an hour after the tourists demanded the removal of match referee Andy Pycroft, the official who had enforced the no-handshake directive at the India game. Pycroft apologised for “miscommunication,” but the symbolism was unmistakable: every neutral arbiter was now suspect.

Hostility escalated into provocation when the sides met again. Haris Rauf peppered India’s Abhishek Sharma with verbals, then turned to the stands, holding up six fingers and miming a jet spiralling to earth—a taunt referencing Islamabad’s claim of downing six Indian aircraft in May. Rauf’s colleague Sahibzada Farhan marked a half-century with a mock-gun celebration aimed at the Indian dugout. India responded through Jasprit Bumrah, whose airplane-crashing pantomime after taking a wicket in the final was judged by the ICC to be “bringing the game into disrepute.”

The scoreboard offered no respite. India chased down Pakistan in the Asia Cup final, yet refused to accept the trophy from ACC president Mohsin Naqvi—who doubles as Pakistan’s federal interior minister. For more than an hour Naqvi stood on the presentation dais while the Indian squad staged an impromptu pantomime, lifting an invisible cup as photographers scrambled for angles. BCCI chief Devajit Saikia framed the boycott as a moral stance: “We have decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan.”

The contagion spread to the women’s game. At the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 in Sri Lanka, India’s female players emulated their male counterparts, abstaining from handshakes with Pakistan. What had once been an isolated act of protest hardened into policy.

By the time the ICC disciplinary committee completed its review, five players had been sanctioned. Yadav and Rauf were docked 30 percent of their match fees and given two demerit points each; Rauf’s repeat offence triggered a two-match suspension. Farhan and Bumrah received warnings and demerit points, a ledger of penalties unprecedented for on-field gestures.

Pakistan’s government flirted with the ultimate protest, initially ordering the team to boycott Sunday’s World Cup encounter after Bangladesh’s early elimination. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif framed the move as solidarity with Dhaka, only to reverse course a week later under joint lobbying from Sri Lanka, UAE and other full members seeking “a viable solution to recent challenges.” The climb-down ensured the fixture will proceed, but not before confirming that every future India-Pakistan contest will be parsed for diplomatic subtext long before the first ball is bowled.

Cricket between the two has always oscillated between theatre and diplomacy; today it functions as an annex of foreign policy. Handshakes, trophy presentations, even the choice of match referee have become contested terrain. Sunday’s game will therefore be remembered less for the runs scored than for the handshakes withheld, the gestures punished, and the governments that have turned a cricket field into the latest frontier of a 78-year conflict.

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