India vs Pakistan no handshake to continue in Women's Asia Cup? Amol Muzumdar answers

Indian women’s cricket team head coach Amol Muzumdar has commented on their no-handshake policy against Pakistan ahead of their Women’s Asia Cup 2026 campaign. India will play their first game against Thailand on Sunday, August 30 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, before they lock horns with Hong Kong on September 3 and arch-rivals Pakistan on September 5 at the same venue.

The Indian team has maintained a no-handshake policy in international cricket at the senior level against Pakistan ever since the political relations between the two nations deteriorated in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir in April, 2025. Since then, both men’s and women’s sides have refrained from exchanging pleasantries with Pakistani players in international games and have also not done customary handshakes at the toss and after the match.

Ahead of their opening game of the Asia Cup, Amol Muzumdar was quizzed about the no handshake policy. The Indian head coach remained tight-lipped on the matter, saying they will speak about it before the fixture against Pakistan and are just taking one game at a time.

“We try to play the best cricket on the ground and off the field stuff; we don’t focus much 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’re focused on tomorrow’s game. We’re taking it one game at a time,” said Muzumdar on the sidelines of India’s practice session at the ICC Academy Oval in Dubai.

India haven’t been in the best of form in the ongoing year in WT20Is, having lost nine out of 16 matches. They suffered series losses against South Africa (1-4), England (1-2), followed by the Group Stage exit in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. When asked about the team’s poor form, Muzumdar brushed off any concerns but acknowledged that the team has a huge scope of improvement and they will try and set the tone for the next six months by playing good, aggressive cricket.

“We don’t pay too much attention to the form; you’re talking about 16 WT20Is in the last six months. But at the same time we know what scope of improvement this team has got. We know there’s a huge scope of improvement as a young side and yeah, I mean I think if we look at it, we’re trying to play some good, aggressive cricket and from here on we will try and set the tone for the next six months,” said Muzumdar while replying to a query from Mr Cricket UAE.

India eyeing eighth women's Asia Cup crown

India are the most successful team in the history of women’s Asia Cup, having won seven out of the nine editions so far. They finished as runners-up in the last edition played in 2024, losing to hosts Sri Lanka in the final by eight wickets.

Speaking about his team’s hunger to reclaim the title, Muzumdar said that the current set of players are hungry for success, given their recent laurels in the ODIs and Tests.

“This group has been a special one. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve done well in the ODI setup; we’ve done well in the Test matches that we’ve played, in the last five Tests, we’ve won four of them. So they’re hungry for success and winning tournaments. Every tournament is important and crucial for this setup. This set of players is really hungry for success. You would be able to see that in the coming future,” he added.