Pakistan has welcomed Sikh pilgrims from India in the first major crossing since their deadly conflict in May closed the land border between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
More than 2,100 pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival marking 556 years since the birth of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith, a decision that was in line with efforts to promote “interreligious and intercultural harmony and understanding”, Pakistan’s high commission in New Delhi said last week.
In May, Islamabad and New Delhi engaged in their worst fighting since 1999, leaving more than 70 people dead. The Wagah-Attari border, the only active land crossing between the two countries, was closed to general traffic after the violence.
On Wednesday, the pilgrims will gather at Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace west of Lahore, before visiting other sacred sites in Pakistan, including Kartarpur, where the guru is buried.
The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free route opened in 2019 to allow Indian Sikhs to visit the temple without crossing the main border, has remained closed since the conflict.
Four days of conflict erupted in May after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, allegations Pakistan denied.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in the 15th century in Punjab, a region spanning parts of present-day India and Pakistan. While most Sikhs migrated to India during partition, some of their most revered places of worship are in Pakistan.
A forum of regional countries, including India, voiced opposition to any foreign military infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s regional neighbours, including India, have voiced a rare unified front by opposing foreign attempts to deploy “military infrastructure” in the country, as United States President Donald Trump presses to regain control of the Bagram airbase.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, members of the Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan – which include US allies India and Pakistan – “reaffirmed their unwavering support for the establishment of Afghanistan as an independent, united and peaceful state”. The forum also includes Russia, China, Iran and Central Asian nations, all of whom strongly oppose any US return presence in Afghanistan.
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The members “called unacceptable the attempts by countries to deploy their military infrastructure in Afghanistan and neighbouring states, since this does not serve the interests of regional peace and stability”.
Though the statement echoes last year’s forum language, it suggests broad regional opposition to Trump’s push to return to Bagram, which he handed over to Afghanistan’s Taliban five years ago as part of a deal paving the way for the US withdrawal from Kabul.
In the latest diplomatic outreach, India is set to welcome the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi for a historic first visit to New Delhi this week, lasting from October 9-16.
After attending the Moscow forum, Muttaqi emphasised that Afghanistan will not accept any foreign military presence. “Afghanistan is a free and independent country, and throughout history, it has never accepted the military presence of foreigners,” he said. “Our decision and policy will remain the same to keep Afghanistan free and independent.”
Last month, Trump threatened “bad things” would happen to Afghanistan if it did not give back Bagram, and cited what he called its strategic location near China. The Taliban has rejected Trump’s calls to return the base.
Bagram is about 800km (about 500 miles) from the Chinese border, and about 2,400km (about 1,500 miles) from the nearest Chinese missile factory in Xinjiang.
Trump has referred to China as a key reason for wanting to retake control of Bagram, saying last month in London that the base is “an hour away from where [China] makes its nuclear weapons”.
Current and former US officials have cast doubt on Trump’s goal, saying that reoccupying Bagram might end up looking like a reinvasion, requiring more than 10,000 troops as well as the deployment of advanced air defences.
“The sheer logistics of negotiating redeployment and handing back would be extremely challenging and lengthy, and it’s not clear that this would serve either side’s strategic interests,” said Ashley Jackson, co-director at the Geneva-headquartered Centre on Armed Groups.
Bagram, a sprawling complex, was the main base for US forces in Afghanistan during the two decades of war that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington by al-Qaeda.
Thousands of people were imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by US forces during its so-called “war on terror”, and many of them were abused or tortured.
The Taliban retook the facility in 2021 following the US withdrawal, which Trump first set in motion in his first term as president, and the collapse of the Afghan government with Joe Biden in the White House.
Who: India vs Pakistan What: ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 When: Sunday, October 5 at 09:30 GMT Where: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka How to follow:Al Jazeera Sport will have live build-up from 06:30 GMT ahead of our text commentary stream.
Cricket could take the backseat on yet another Sunday when India meet Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 in Colombo amid lingering political tension between the South Asian neighbours.
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The eagerly awaited group-stage fixture will likely be bookended by questions surrounding the now-infamous handshakes between both sides as the captains meet at the pre-match coin toss, and at the end of the match, when both squads traditionally step back on the field.
When India and Pakistan’s men’s teams met in the Asia Cup 2025, the Indian team and its captain did not shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in all three fixtures at the tournament, leading to furore and backlash that marred the tournament.
A top official of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has not ruled out a “no handshake” policy for the Women’s World Cup fixture, as well.
“Whether there will be handshakes, whether there will be hugging, I cannot assure you of anything,” BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia told the BBC’s Stumped podcast.
“I cannot forecast anything, but our relationship with that particular hostile country is the same. There is no change in the last week.”
‘Focus on the game’
While it may seem that cricket has been, once again, pushed into the background, both teams want to overlook the controversial build-up and focus on the game instead.
“Obviously, we know what’s happening around us, but we try to stay focused on the game because the World Cup is an event every player waits for,” Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana said on Saturday.
Sana, whose team were comprehensively beaten by Bangladesh in their opening match, said Pakistan will “focus on the tournament and on what we have come here for” when asked to comment on the “outside noise”.
The last time India played Pakistan at the Women’s World Cup, the players’ off-field interactions left an indelible mark on the game and earned widespread praise from the fans.
At the 2022 tournament in New Zealand, Pakistan’s then-captain Bismah Maroof was surrounded by a group of Indian players as they cooed over her six-month-old daughter Fatima.
Jokes were shared, selfies were taken, and memories were made as players from the rival nations bonded outside their dressing rooms well after the match was over.
Sana, who was part of the Pakistan squad in 2022, was asked whether the players will miss the spirit and camaraderie from three years ago.
“We try to maintain healthy relationships with every team,” Sana replied.
“What happened with Bismah’s daughter, when everyone mingled and enjoyed together – as players, we all like such moments, but the main thing is to stay focused [on the game].”
When the same question was posed to India’s bowling coach Aavishankar Salvi, the journalist was notified that India will not answer it.
However, Salvi did say that India – who beat Sri Lanka in their opening game by 59 runs – will also “focus on the cricket” on Sunday.
“We want our girls to take it just as a game because the World Cup is a long campaign and there will be a lot of games coming our way,” he said.
“When you enter a big tournament, the area of focus is only cricket, and it’s good to have the players into a good [head] space.”
The fixture is expected to draw huge viewing figures and organisers will expect a sizeable crowd at the ground, as well.
Sana, who also led Pakistan in their match against India in the T20 World Cup 2024, admitted such factors make it a high-pressure fixture and one that “the whole world will be watching”.
“There is pressure but the main thing is how we handle it. We’ll try to focus on our game, execute our plans, and play the way we’ve prepared.”
What happened in the last India vs Pakistan women’s cricket match?
The teams last met in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai, where India emerged victorious by six wickets.
When was the last time Pakistan beat India in women’s cricket?
Pakistan have only beaten India on three occasions, the last of which came on October 7 at the T20 Women’s Asia Cup 2022. Nida Dar’s all-round performance sealed Pakistan’s 13-run win in Bangladesh.
Will it rain in Colombo during the India vs Pakistan match?
Rain is expected in the early hours of Sunday in Khettarama, the neighbourhood that houses the R Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka’s capital.
The weather will remain cloudy throughout the day, with light showers expected to return later in the evening, as well. This could lead to delays or disruption of play.
There was plenty of rainfall on Saturday before Sri Lanka’s match against Australia at the same venue. The persistent rain led to the match being called off without any play.
The ground at the R Premadasa Stadium remained covered on Saturday as Sri Lanka vs Australia was abandoned due to rain [Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]
India vs Pakistan: Head-to-head in women’s ODIs
India hold an 11-0 lead over their neighbours in women’s ODIs. All of India’s wins have come with comfortable margins, including the 107-run victory at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.
Players to watch: India
Smriti Mandhana: Widely regarded as the best limited-over batters in present-day women’s cricket, Mandhana has swept most women’s ODI records in the past two years. She is the top-ranked ODI batter by a distance and was the leading run-scorer in the format in 2024. The Indian vice-captain has scored four ODI centuries in 2025, the most by any player in the current year.
Deepti Sharma: The all-rounder poses an equal threat with bat and ball, and has performed well against Pakistan in previous encounters. Sharma’s right-arm off-break bowling will be a big threat for Pakistan’s batters. She took three wickets and scored 54 runs in India’s World Cup opening win against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Players to watch: Pakistan
Sidra Amin: The veteran batter recently became the top ODI century-maker for her country with her sixth ton in the series against South Africa. She comes into the crucial match with good run-scoring form and is regarded as the mainstay of Pakistan’s batting attack against a strong Indian bowling line-up.
Nashra Sandhu: The unassuming slow left-arm bowler has been Pakistan’s go-to spin option in recent years and is third on the list of top ODI wicket-takers for her country. Sandhu has taken 16 wickets in Pakistan’s nine ODIs in 2025, including six in a match against South Africa on September 22.
Form guide: India
India entered the World Cup with a home series loss and an away series win in the bag. They were tested by Sri Lanka in the tournament’s opening game, but recovered well to begin their World Cup campaign with a win.
Last five ODIs (latest result first): W L W L W L
Form guide: Pakistan
Pakistan’s form has dipped after their five-match unbeaten run at home in the World Cup qualifiers, where they beat Bangladesh, Thailand and the West Indies to book a place in this tournament. Sana’s team lost a home ODI series to South Africa and then suffered a dramatic batting collapse in their opening World Cup game against Bangladesh.
Last five ODIs (latest result first): L W L L W
Team news: India
India are expected to name an unchanged XI for their second match of the tournament.
Pakistan are likely to field the same XI that lost to Bangladesh, but there could be a case for replacing Natalia Pervaiz with in-form all-rounder Aroob Shah.
India’s cricket team hoisted an imaginary trophy after winning the 2025 Asia Cup against Pakistan, refusing to accept the real one from Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. The match came four months after a brief aerial war between the two nuclear-armed rivals over a deadly attack on a tourist area in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Varma hits 69 not out as India chase 146 after coming into bat at 10-2 in a nervy end to the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai.
Tilak Varma held his nerve with an unbeaten innings of 69 runs as he steered India home in a five-wicket win over Pakistan in a gripping and controversial final of the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai.
Coming into bat with India two wickets down for 10 runs in the third over, Varma weathered the storm while wickets fell at the other end as India chased 147 in the politically charged tournament decider on Sunday, where the champions refused to accept the winner’s trophy from the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
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It was the third India vs Pakistan match of the tournament and once again, the fixture was marred by controversy as the post-match presentation ceremony was delayed by more than an hour due to unexplained reasons as players and tournament organisers waited on the ground.
Once the ceremony got under way, it was revealed by presenter Simon Doull that the Indian cricket team had refused to attend it and would not collect their winner’s medals and the Asia Cup trophy, ostensibly from Naqvi, who is also chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s Minister for Interior.
“Indian team refuses to accept Asia Cup winners’ trophy from Pakistan minister and ACC head Mohsin Naqvi,” the Press Trust of India reported after the ceremony concluded.
However, India’s player of the final Varma, top batter Abhishek Sharma and bowler Kuldeep Yadav did walk up to the presentation area to collect their cheques, albeit not from Naqvi.
Minutes later, India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and his teammates cheered with a mock trophy as they celebrated their ninth Asia Cup title.
India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav pretends to hold the Asia Cup trophy as he walks over to his teammates to celebrate winning the tournament [Raghed Waked/Reuters]
India’s win was built around their 22-year-old batter Varma’s measured innings , which came off 53 balls and included four sixes and three fours.
The run chase was dented in the second over when their star batter and the tournament’s leading run-scorer Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for five runs by Pakistan’s medium-pace bowler Faheem Ashraf on the first ball of India’s second over. He fell to a mistimed attempt at a six and was caught at mid-on.
Suryakumar Yadav followed soon after, when Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed him for one run as the Indian captain hit his fifth ball straight to mid-off, where his Pakistani counterpart Salman Agha took a diving catch.
It was then up to Varma and opener Gill to steady the ship for India, but Gill departed nine balls later to Ashraf. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson chipped in with an innings of 24 off 21 before falling to leg-spin bowler Abrar Ahmed.
New batter Shivam Dube, who had earlier taken on the responsibility of opening the bowling for India in the absence of Hardik Pandya, played a supporting role to Varma’s innings.
While Pakistan bowled well, they were not fully supported by the fielders as two catches were dropped and a crucial run-out chance was missed by wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris, who was slow to remove the bails as Varma dived in.
Varma made Pakistan pay as he and Dube took India on the verge of victory, only for Dube to fall with six balls and nine runs left.
Rinku Singh, who replaced Pandya in the final, faced one ball and hit the winning runs off it to spark celebrations in the Indian camp.
India’s Tilak Varma celebrates his team’s victory against Pakistan at the end of the Asia Cup 2025 final at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
Earlier, Pakistan began their innings brightly as Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave them an opening stand of 84, before Farhan was dismissed for 57 off 38 in the 10th over.
Zaman (46 off 35) then formed a brief partnership with Saim Ayub, who scored 14 runs, but once they were dismissed, none of the Pakistan batters could post more than nine runs .
The team in green crashed from 113-2 to 146 all out in 38 balls as they finished their innings in 19.1 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for India as he picked four wickets for 30 runs in his four overs. Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy took a wicket apiece.
Yadav ended the tournament as its leading wicket – taker with 17, while Sharma was the top batter with 314 runs.
Cricket players, fans, experts and officials must let the sport return to a “moment of sanity” when India and Pakistan meet in the final of the Asia Cup 2025 on Sunday, says former player and administrator Ramiz Raja.
Millions of fans – in both South Asian countries and across the world – will watch and follow the game with bated breath as the heated rivalry unfolds at Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the third time in 15 days.
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“The temperature must be lowered and all eyes should be on the game of cricket,” Raja told Al Jazeera on the eve of the final.
“It is not only the responsibility of the cricket boards and players but also the fans, stakeholders, and social media commentators to demonstrate astuteness because the emotions are still raw. Everyone needs a moment of sanity.”
The fallout of mixing politics with cricket
The build-up to the final has been dominated by actions that have little to do with the sport itself – be it a no-handshake row, politically loaded statements, controversial gesturing or complaints lodged with the game’s governing body, which responded by giving both sides a slap on the wrist.
The match will be played in the aftermath of disciplinary hearings, which were carried out by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) lodged complaints over the rival players’ statements and gestures.
India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav was the first to appear for a hearing at the ICC headquarters in Dubai on Thursday. The PCB took objection to his mention of “Operation Sindoor” – the military operation carried out by India’s armed forces in Pakistan in May – during his post-match comments following India’s seven-wicket win on September 14.
Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf were also summoned to the ICC headquarters on Friday for their gestures during the second meeting between the two sides on September 21, when India won the Super Fours fixture by six wickets.
Farhan mimicked a gunshot to celebrate his maiden half-century against India, and Rauf was seen responding to the crowd’s heckling by gesturing the downing of aircraft and holding up his fingers to represent the number six, an alleged reference to Pakistan’s claims of downing six Indian air force planes during the four-day conflict.
ICC match referee Richie Richardson conducted the hearings.
Al Jazeera understands that Yadav and Rauf were handed a fine of 30 percent of their respective match fee, while Farhan was let off with a warning by Richardson.
The ICC has not officially announced the sanctions. Al Jazeera reached out to the ICC for a comment on the hearings, but has not received a response.
With the off-field theatrics dealt with, Raja believes the attention must return to the on-field action.
“The ICC’s decision to fine players on both sides must have reduced the pressure on them [players] and helped redefine the rules of engagement [for the final],” he explained.
Raja, who has also been at the helm of the PCB in the past, said the circumstances turned grave in the aftermath of Yadav’s comments and the Pakistani players’ gestures, and it was a turmoil that both parties could have avoided.
The match on Sunday will mark the first India vs Pakistan final in the Asia Cup – a fateful meeting that organisers, broadcasters and sponsors may have dreamt of in the 31 years since the tournament’s inception but were never able to pull off in its 15 iterations.
Bilateral cricket series and tours remain suspended between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, and any meeting at an ICC event or regional competition is a highly anticipated affair.
Pakistan’s Haris Rauf, right, and India’s Abhishek Sharma, second left, were involved in an on-field altercation during their match on September 21 [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
‘Attention must return to cricket’
Raja, also a former Pakistan captain, has called on the players to refrain from letting the political tensions boil over onto the cricket field.
“It [mixing politics with sport] takes away the innocence of cricketers, as they are not geared to engage in political rhetoric,” he said.
Raja played 38 international matches against India in a career spanning from 1984 to 1997.
“It is an unfamiliar territory for them [players]. They do not know how much and what needs to be said.”
Pakistan’s captain Salman Agha cut a picture of calm before the proverbial storm on Saturday, when he took questions from the media before the final.
He chose not to comment on the provocative questions about the Indian team and media, while reiterating his stance on playing “good cricket” in the final.
Meanwhile, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel, who spoke to the media late on Friday, also anticipated a tough fight between bat and ball.
“Let’s look forward to the battle on Sunday.”
Raja agreed and said the conversation should move on.
“The debate should be whether Pakistan will lift their game [in the final] or if it will be a third-time malfunction [against India].”
India have remained unbeaten on their way to the final, while Pakistan’s only defeats in the tournament have come against India.
Pakistan have now lost seven international matches to India, whom they last beat in September 2022.
Despite the one-sided results in recent years, India vs Pakistan remains the hottest-selling item in international cricket, and Raja believes politics has a lot to do with it.
“The entire world waits for this contest not because of the skill levels of the players or the quality of contest, but due to the political needle between these two countries,” he said.
On Sunday, though, Raja hopes the attention will return to the sport when India and Pakistan meet to write yet another historic chapter in their bitter rivalry.
Abhishek’s innings helps India chase 172 with seven balls to spare in their Super Fours cricket match against Pakistan in Dubai.
Published On 21 Sep 202521 Sep 2025
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A 105-run opening stand between Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill helped defending champions India beat Pakistan by six wickets in their Asia Cup Super Four match, a second victory over their archrivals in the Twenty20 cricket tournament.
Put in to bat first in the match on Sunday, Pakistan set India a target of 172, which they reached with seven balls remaining.
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There was no handshake between the teams’ players yet again, with the match played amid lingering tensions between the two nations in the wake of a military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
There was clear tension between both sets of players it threatened to bubble over in India’s innings as Pakistan’s fast bowler Haris Rauf appeared to exchage heated words with Sharma and Gill.
Put in to bat first, Pakistan had a 72-run partnership between Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub for the second wicket that laid the foundation for its innings after Fakhar Zaman (15) fell early.
Farhan, who was dropped in the first over by Sharma, completed his half-century in 34 balls, steering Pakistan to 91-1 after 10 overs.
But Pakistan could not hit a single boundary in the next six overs as Ayub (21), Hussain Talat (10) and Farhan (58 off 45) got out in quick succession.
Unbeaten knocks from captain Salman Ali Agha (17 off 13) and Faheem Ashraf (20 off 8) added 42 runs in the last three overs to help Pakistan reach a competitive 171-5.
Sharma announced his intentions by hitting Shaheen Shah Afridi for a six on the first ball, and hit four boundaries and four sixes to complete his half-century in 24 balls.
India seemed to be cruising to a quick victory until Gill (47 off 28) was bowled by Faheem Ashraf in the 10th over.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav fell to Haris Rauf (2-26) for a duck in the very next over, and Sharma (74 off 39) was dismissed by Abrar Ahmed soon after, temporarily throttling India’s chase.
But India, who beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the group stage, still got over the line, with Tilak Varma (30 off 19) hitting Afridi for a six and a four in the final two balls of the innings.
Pakistan will face Sri Lanka on Tuesday, with both sides looking for their first win in the Super Four, a day before India play Bangladesh, who beat Sri Lanka on Saturday.
India and Pakistan are keen to avoid controversy ahead of their crucial Super Fours fixture at the Asia Cup 2025, as the political fallout of their previous match continues to overshadow the cricket tournament in Dubai.
Pakistan cancelled their pre-match news conference one hour before its scheduled time on Saturday, while India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav evaded questions on the “no handshake” row when he spoke to the media after his team’s win over Oman on Friday.
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Sunday’s match between the South Asian archrivals will be their second meeting in eight days, with the winner taking a step closer to the tournament’s final on September 28.
While the political statements and off-field actions following the September 14 clash continue to impact preparations for the upcoming Super Fours match, both camps have taken steps to avoid further repercussions and protect the players from controversy.
When Yadav was asked to comment on the handshake row after his team’s last group-stage fixture on Friday evening, he responded by saying: “It [the match] will be a good contest between the ball and the bat.”
He went on to add that he’s asked his players to “shut the noise” ahead of the match against Pakistan.
“Close your room, switch off your phone and sleep,” the India captain said.
“It’s easy to say, but sometimes it is difficult.”
Having made pointedly political statements after his team’s win over Pakistan on Sunday, the 35-year-old chose to steer clear of similar comments a day before their second match.
“We stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and with their families, and dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor,” the 35-year-old said when asked if his team’s decision to not shake hands with Pakistani players was against the spirit of cricket.
Yadav was referring to the Indian armed forces’ multiple missile attacks on six locations inside Pakistan.
India said the missiles were in response to the April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in Pahalgam, in which 26 men were killed. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF), which demands independence for Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack, but India had alleged Pakistani involvement.
Pakistan denied any role in the attacks and asked for an independent investigation to be carried out.
Two days later, Pakistan responded to the missile strikes by attacking military installations across its frontier with India and Indian-administered Kashmir, striking at least four facilities.
The conflict ended four days later, thanks to an internationally-brokered ceasefire.
While the exchange of aerial fire came to a halt, the diplomatic ties between the neighbours remained suspended, and the political tension spilled over into cricket as India’s players walked off the field without shaking hands with their opposition.
A few moments later, Pakistan’s players trudged off in a group and waited for the Indian squad and support staff to come out and shake hands, as is the norm at the end of cricket matches.
However, the Indian contingent only shook hands with each other before walking into their dressing room and shutting the door as the waiting Pakistan players looked on.
Shortly after the events unfolded, Pakistan’s manager Naveed Akram Cheema lodged a protest against the Indian cricket team’s actions with Andy Pycroft, who is an International Cricket Council (ICC) accredited match referee.
Pakistan alleged that Pycroft did not clearly communicate the Indian team’s decision to not partake in the handshake, an act they termed in contravention of the spirit of cricket.
Pakistan demanded Pycroft’s removal as match referee for their remaining fixtures in the tournament, but later reached an agreement with the ICC and Pycroft went on to officiate Pakistan’s last group game against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday.
The Pakistan-UAE match was delayed by an hour as officials from the ICC and Pakistan’s team management held a meeting at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium before the match.
“The ICC’s match referee, Andy Pycroft, has apologised to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.
“Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication.”
The PCB also said that the ICC “expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match”, referring to Pycroft’s request to Pakistan and India captains to avoid the customary handshake at the toss, which the PCB alleges contravened the laws of the game.
However, a source within the ICC told Al Jazeera that Pycroft did not apologise to Pakistan and only clarified his position.
The source also said that the ICC had investigated the issue and concluded that it did not warrant action against the Zimbabwean match referee.
The Zimbabwean match official will be in charge of Sunday’s India-Pakistan fixture as well.
Pakistan agrees to have Andy Pycroft as a cricket match referee after he apologises for his role in a handshake row against India.
Pakistan’s cricket match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Asia Cup was delayed by an hour amid uncertainty about the fixture as Pakistani officials deliberated pulling out of the tournament as a mark of protest.
The match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium began at 7:30pm local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) reached an agreement on Andy Pycroft’s assignment as match referee following his role in the “no handshake” row involving India three days earlier.
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“The ICC’s match referee, Andy Pycroft, has apologised to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team,” the PCB said in a statement released minutes before the toss for the Pakistan-UAE fixture.
“Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication.”
The PCB also said that the ICC “expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match”, referring to Pycroft’s request to Pakistan and India captains to avoid the customary handshake at the toss, which the PCB alleges contravened the laws of the game.
Pycroft was the key match official in the crucial and politically charged match between the South Asian archrivals on Sunday, and had allegedly asked Pakistan’s captain Salman Agha and his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav to not partake in the customary captains’ handshake at the toss.
Later, once Yadav hit the winning runs for India, he walked off the field along with his batting partner Shivam Dube without shaking the opposition’s hands – a tradition in cricket – in a move that went uncontested by the match officials.
Additionally, the Indian players and staff did not shake hands with the Pakistani contingent and instead shut the door of their dressing room as the Pakistanis looked on.
The move, and Pycroft’s decision not to reprimand the Indian team, infuriated the PCB, which lodged an immediate complaint with the tournament’s organisers.
The PCB also wrote to the ICC on Monday, asking for Pycroft’s removal as match referee for all of Pakistan’s remaining fixtures due to his “failure to discharge his duties”, according to a PCB official who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity.
The deadlock, resulting from the ICC’s apparent refusal to remove Pycroft, lasted up until an hour prior to the official match start time.
Later, as Pycroft conducted the toss in Dubai, the PCB released a video of a meeting where ICC General Manager of Cricket Wasim Khan is seen mediating a settlement between Pycroft and the Pakistan team – represented by manager Naveed Akram Cheema, captain Agha, and head coach Mike Hesson.
Hours earlier, the match’s fate was left in limbo as the Pakistani squad did not board the bus for the venue at its scheduled departure time, indicating a logistical logjam between the PCB and the ICC.
However, once both parties had reached an agreement, the team departed for the stadium. But the fate of the match became certain five minutes before the toss with the PCB’s statement.
Meanwhile, the UAE squad awaited Pakistan’s arrival at the stadium under a cloud of uncertainty.
The Group A fixture acts as a knockout game for both teams, with the winner progressing to the Super Four stage of the eight-nation tournament.
India have already qualified for the next stage on the back of their wins against the UAE and Pakistan.
Dubai, UAE – The wide-ranging ramifications of an ongoing political standoff between India and Pakistan have led to a controversial conclusion of the archrivals’ cricket match at the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai, where India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that his squad opted against shaking hands with their opponents as a mark of protest.
When Sunday’s Group A fixture between the South Asian archrivals was confirmed after long deliberations from the Indian government, fans and experts had hoped that the on-field action could help cool the off-field heat.
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Yadav, though, crushed all expectations by saying his team’s thumping seven-wicket win in the T20 match was a “perfect reply” to Pakistan in the wake of the intense four-day cross-border conflict that brought both countries to the brink of an all-out war in May.
“Our [Indian] government and the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] were aligned on the decision to play this match. We came here just to play the match and gave them [Pakistan] a perfect reply,” Yadav told the media shortly after the match.
What happened at the end of the India vs Pakistan match?
Yadav, who hit the winning runs for India, walked off the field alongside his batting partner, Shivam Dube, without approaching the Pakistani captain and team for the traditional post-match handshakes.
Pakistan’s players trudged off in a group and waited for the Indian squad and support staff to come out and shake hands, as is the norm at the end of cricket matches.
However, the Indian contingent only shook hands with each other before walking into their dressing room and shutting the door as the waiting Pakistan players looked on.
No handshakes between the teams. Salman Agha looked to lead Pakistan over to the India dressing room, but nothing doing. They all headed straight in #INDvPAKpic.twitter.com/0BbJtYdkAf
Why did Indian team refuse to shake hands with Pakistani players?
The Indian captain was asked to clarify his team’s actions and whether they were in contradiction with the spirit of the sport.
“A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit,” the 35-year-old swiftly responded.
“We stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and with their families, and dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor.”
Yadav was referring to the Indian armed forces’ multiple missile attacks on six locations inside Pakistan.
India said the missiles were in response to the April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in Pahalgam, in which 26 men were killed. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF), which demands independence for Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack, but India had alleged Pakistani involvement.
Two days later, Pakistan responded to the missile strikes by attacking military installations across its frontier with India and Indian-administered Kashmir, striking at least four facilities.
The conflict ended four days later, thanks to an internationally-brokered ceasefire.
While the exchange of aerial fire came to a halt, the diplomatic ties between the neighbours remained suspended, and the political tension spilled over into cricket when the fixture between India and Pakistan was announced by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
Did India break any rules by not shaking hands?
As a result, the match was played under a highly charged political climate, and when both captains did not indulge in the customary handshake at the pre-match toss, the focus swiftly shifted to the interactions between the teams.
However, Al Jazeera has learned that the match referee, Andy Pycroft, had asked Yadav and his counterpart, Agha, to skip the pre-toss ritual.
“The match referee requested both captains to not shake hands at the toss,” an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), requesting anonymity, told Al Jazeera after the match.
Match officials also granted India permission to skip the post-match handshakes with Pakistan, but did not inform Agha or his team, according to the source.
This resulted in an awkward-looking post-match scenario, where the Pakistani players followed Yadav off the pitch and waited for the Indians to emerge, only to watch them shut the dressing room door.
How did Pakistan respond?
Pakistan’s manager Naveed Akram Cheema lodged a protest against the Indian cricket team’s actions with Pycroft, who is an International Cricket Council (ICC) accredited match referee.
“The umpires had allowed the Indians to walk off the field without shaking hands for which the match referee apologised after the protest of our team manager,” the official said.
Additionally, Pakistan captain Agha did not speak at the post-match captain’s chat with the host broadcaster in a mark of protest.
Mike Hesson, Pakistan’s head coach, confirmed that Agha’s refusal to show up for the talk and the media briefing was a “follow-on effect” of the Indian team’s actions.
“We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game, but our opposition did not do that,” Hesson said.
“We sort of went over there to shake hands, and they had already gone into the changing room.”
Indian and Pakistani players stand for their national anthems before the start of the match [Fadel Senna/AFP]
Why are handshakes important in cricket, and what’s the protocol?
As per the norm in cricket, the two on-field players of the team batting second shake hands with the fielding team and the umpires before walking off.
And in what is now a common practice in all international cricket matches, the batting team then enters the ground to shake hands with their opponents.
It offers both sides to end the match on a friendly note and exchange words of encouragement.
In the same manner, both teams’ captains shake hands before the toss, which takes place 30 minutes before the start of play.
The toss is conducted by the match referee on the pitch and usually broadcast live.
Both captains and the match referee can also indulge in a pre-match chat regarding team lineups or any other matters of mutual interest for both teams.
The match referee can also meet a captain, head coach or manager of either team before the match.
Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha at the coin toss [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
What have the tournament officials said about the incident?
The move was lamented by the ACC chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the PCB.
“Utterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship today,” Naqvi said in a post on X.
“Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports.”
Utterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship today. Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports. Lets hope future victories are celebrated by all teams with grace
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – A day prior to the marquee India-Pakistan cricket clash at the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai, it’s a tale of two teams positioned on opposite ends of the pre-match hype metre as political frenzy envelops the fixture.
As a result of the hoopla, the game of cricket has been reduced to a supporting act.
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India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate faced the heat as his side’s designated news conference representative on Saturday.
The former Netherlands international cricketer was sent to tackle a barrage of questions on the tense atmosphere in the wake of the four-day conflict in May, when the South Asian archrivals came close to an all-out war.
Unlike the pre-tournament news conference, where media persons were discouraged from asking political questions, Saturday’s event was heavier on politics and lighter on cricket.
Doeschate, who has been part of the Indian coaching set-up for over a year, was asked to talk about the players’ mindset in the lead-up to the match and whether the simmering sentiments back home will affect them.
“It will play on the minds of the players, who share the compassion of the Indian public,” Doeschate said.
However, the coach urged them to “put the sentiments and emotions behind” when they step on the field.
“It’s something we have addressed in the dressing room in team meetings. We are aware of the feelings [of Indian fans], but the guys have to play for their country, so they will be as professional and focused as they can be given the circumstances.”
While the conversation occasionally turned to India’s team combination for the match and tackling a new-look Pakistani T20 side, some sections of the media kept steering it back to themes such as “using the sports field as an avenue for protest [against the opponent]” and, cynically, protecting the players from the outside noise.
However, ten Doeschate was careful in his handling of questions on the delicate theme and did not attempt to shut down the constant probing.
He revealed India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s message to the dressing room in the lead-up to the Pakistan match.
“It’s been about being professional, not worrying about things not in our control and trying to be emotionless when approaching the cricket side of things.”
The 45-year-old former allrounder wrapped up by saying the way the Indian team plays on Sunday will “represent how the players feel about the country.”
India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir at a practice session [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
‘Just another cricket match’
Meanwhile, Pakistan took the opposite approach to the media scrutiny by sending Saim Ayub, a very nonchalant young member of the squad, to deal with the barrage of critical and deceptively political questions.
The allrounder flat-batted the inquest into Pakistan’s inability to beat India in recent games by repeating the “past is past” mantra that every athlete knows so well.
Pakistan’s last win over India, in all formats and competitions, came in October 2021, when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan guided them home by 10 wickets.
The 23-year-old has never played a match against India, and when he was asked to recount his experience of being on the reserves’ bench during the India-Pakistan game at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, he simply blamed amnesia for his inability to recall his feelings from last June.
“I could have answered your question better had you asked last year,” he quipped.
Ayub, whose main role in the team is to open the batting, has seen a dip in his run-scoring form since his return from injury this year.
In his 15 T20I innings since May, Ayub has scored 40 or more runs on four occasions, only one of which came during the recent tri-nation T20 series in the UAE.
The left-handed batter dealt with the criticism of his performance with a smirk and said, “The same player can’t be expected to win the match every time.”
“The team is made up of 11 players, and we try that every player stands up on a different day. We can only try to give our best effort and hope that the result goes our way.”
When it was his turn to face questions on the hyped up match and how it could lead to on-field nerves, Ayub was happy to term it “just another cricket match”.
“It can be a big fixture for some people, but for us, it’s just another match where we must improve our performance.”
A changed-up Pakistan team led by a new captain and coach will look to change the recent trend in results against India, while their opponents will aim to not only win the contest on the pitch, but also placate a charged-up fanbase back home.
Pakistan will rely on Shaheen Shah Afridi’s experience against India on Sunday [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – When cricketers from India and Pakistan step onto the field for their Asia Cup 2025 match on Sunday, a lot more than two points will be on the line, according to cricket fans and experts.
The match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be played under the cloud of lingering hostility after their intense four-day conflict in May.
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While an all-out war between the two cross-border nations was prevented after an internationally brokered ceasefire, a sense of bitterness remains.
“People in India have been very angry about the match ever since this fixture was confirmed,” Kudip Lal, an Indian cricket writer, told Al Jazeera.
“They feel that it’s not right to play this match while the overall relationship between both countries is so strained,” he explained.
Lal said that fans in India see the fixture as a money-making avenue for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), whom they blame for trying to cash in on the profit generated by these high-profile clashes.
Lal believes the BCCI, widely regarded as the most wealthy and powerful cricket board in the world, could have “easily skipped” the match.
“If the Indian government has stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis, if the diplomatic ties are suspended and Pakistanis visiting India have been sent back, then why have the cricketers been asked to play this match in the aftermath of a war?” Lal questioned.
He expressed fears of a backlash in case India lose the Group A fixture.
Whenever India and Pakistan play, emotions run high and a loss is not taken well by fans on either side of the border.
In the past decades, players’ homes have been torched, their family members have been threatened, and effigy-burning protests have been carried out on the streets.
The current political climate between India and Pakistan is worse than it has been in several decades.
Shared laughs and ‘bromance’ of the past
Despite the political deadlock between the nuclear-armed neighbours, the recent on-and-off-field exchanges between players have been fairly cheerful.
When India last played Pakistan in the Asia Cup in September 2023, the two key talking points were Virat Kohli’s utter dominance of Pakistani bowlers and the countless feel-good moments shared between both teams.
The match was played in the middle of the monsoon season in Sri Lanka, where fans cheered for both teams regardless of their allegiances and danced away their worries during the countless rain delays.
There were memorable player-to-player exchanges that were plucked right out of a social media manager’s dream.
Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi swapped his on-field aggression for off-field warmth as he handed India’s Jasprit Bumrah a gift hamper for his newborn son. Cue millions of retweets and shares on X and Instagram.
Social media was also flooded with reels highlighting the “bromance” between Kohli and Pakistan allrounder Shadab Khan.
This time, however, experts do not foresee similar public displays of goodwill and friendliness.
“The friendship and warmth seen in the past will not be on display because anything can be blown out of proportion by impassioned fans, and the smallest move can agitate the public,” Sami Ul Hasan, former head of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) media and communications department, said ahead of the match.
When Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan were warmly embraced by Kohli, and all three shared a hearty laugh while walking off the pitch.
“We can’t expect similar scenes to unfold on Sunday,” Hasan said.
“The interpretation and optics of an overtly friendly encounter could go very wrong, and things could blow up on either side of the border.”
India’s Jasprit Bumrah, right, talks with Pakistan’s Haris Rauf, centre, and Shaheen Shah Afridi before their team’s match at Asia Cup 2023 in Colombo [File: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]
Mixing cricket with politics
Hasan, who has worked with cricketers and cricket officials, said the players will attempt to bat away political questions by saying they are not meant to deal with political matters.
“Sports and politics can never be separated, but athletes aren’t politicians, so they can’t be expected to act like diplomats.”
Despite the heated atmosphere and tense build-up to the fixture, some fans believe the match can still be seen as just another India-Pakistan match.
“Politics shouldn’t be mixed with cricket, which has always helped ease the tensions, so why should it be used as an avenue to propagate politics?” Asad Khan, a Pakistani fan, said.
“When you bring political agendas into cricket, it ruins the game and causes unnecessary stress for the players.”
Khan urged fans to put aside the politically and religiously motivated chants at cricket stadiums and instead enjoy a now-rare India-Pakistan match.
Given the years-long halt in bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan, their fixtures are limited to multination tournaments.
Cricket fans are hopeful that both teams will not give in to the politically-charged atmosphere and help lighten the mood.
“The players should do their jobs as cricketers and the fans should treat it as just another game,” Ali, a Pakistan fan, said, told Al Jazeera in Dubai.
“Why must the cricketers worry about what happened on the border four months ago,” Ali
But cricket expert Lal believes otherwise.
“When the two teams enter the field on Sunday, they can’t be expected to be completely detached from the conflict. It will play on their minds.”
A hot and humid September evening in Dubai cannot be blamed solely for turning the “Ring of Fire” stadium into a cauldron.
Come Sunday, the latest chapter in a decades-long bitter rivalry will have the players and fans on the edge.
India’s Virat Kohli, left, is a firm fan favourite in Pakistan [File: Fadel Senna/AFP]
In sport, sometimes there is no better way to prepare for a fierce rivalry than watching reruns or reading summaries of previous heart-stopping encounters.
The sport’s history is embellished with historic India-Pakistan clashes at every tournament and in every decade.
With the teams set to meet again in the T20 Asia Cup 2025, Al Jazeera Sport picks the three India-Pakistan Asia Cup classics you must revisit before Sunday’s encounter:
2010: Harbhajan is a last-over hero with the bat
The 2010 edition of the Asia Cup was a four-team tournament played entirely in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, where all teams played a round-robin group stage, with the top two progressing to the final.
India beat Bangladesh while Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka, making their June 19 encounter a must-win for the Shahid Afridi-led side.
Pakistan opened with a 71-run partnership between Salman Butt and Imran Farhat. A par total of 267 followed the regular fall of wickets thereafter. India’s fast-medium seamer Praveen Kumar picked up three wickets, but it was Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin that kept Pakistan in check.
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opened the batting for India’s chase, and while Sehwag fell after an uncharacteristically slow innings, Gambhir kept going as captain MS Dhoni chipped in with a half-century.
India seemed well set before Pakistan’s spinners struck in the last third of their innings. Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Dhoni and Jadeja fell in quick succession, leaving India reeling at 219-6 with 49 runs required off 29 balls.
Lower-order batter Suresh Raina had the responsibility to take India home alongside off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Raina hit Ajmal for 12 off 4 before three economical overs from Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Amir.
With eight runs to defend in the final over, Amir made a near-perfect start as Raina ran a single. In a desperate attempt to get back on strike, Raina had a mix-up with Harbhajan and was run out, giving Pakistan the upper hand. India needed seven off four, with Kumar facing Amir. A double and a single brought Harbhajan back on strike for the final two balls.
Harbhajan, who had an altercation with Akhtar a few balls earlier, swung at a length delivery, clearing midwicket for a huge six. The Turbanator then turned towards Akhtar and let out a loud roar as the Indian dressing room celebrated wildly.
India were in the final and Pakistan were nearly out.
Brief scorecard
Pakistan: 267 in 49.3 overs – Salman Butt 74 (85), Kamran Akmal 51 (41); Praveen Kumar 3-53 in 10 overs. India: 271 in 49.5 overs – Gautam Gambhir 83 (97), MS Dhoni 56 (71); Saeed Ajmal 3-56 in 10 overs.
Harbhajan Singh celebrates the win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup in Dambulla [File: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Reuters]
2014: Afridi seals it with two sixes and a kiss
The round-robin format continued for the 2010 tournament in Bangladesh.
By the time India faced Pakistan, both teams had one win and one loss and needed a win to bolster their chances for a spot in the final.
Runs flowed off Rohit Sharma’s bat on a quick Mirpur outfield, and India seemed on their way to a big total despite losing Shikhar Dhawan early. Virat Kohli joined Rohit in smashing the Pakistani pacers.
While Rohit went his merry way, India were dealt a blow when Umar Gul dismissed Kohli for five. Regular wickets slowed India’s scoring rate, but they still posted 245, thanks to a late flourish by Ambati Rayudu and Jadeja.
Pakistan’s top-order, particularly Mohammad Hafeez, gave them a good start to the chase. However, it wasn’t long before India’s spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra forced a collapse worthy of Pakistani renown. Four batters were dismissed in the space of 42 runs.
Hafeez began the rebuild with Sohaib Maqsood in an 87-run partnership, but both were dismissed in consecutive overs, leaving Pakistan reeling at 203-6 off 45. Maqsood’s run out, in particular, was a gift for India after a huge mid-pitch mix-up with Shahid Afridi, just after Pakistan took the upper hand.
Afridi, the last recognised batter, was joined by Gul as Pakistan required 43 off 30 with four wickets standing. Every Afridi swing of his bat was met with trepidation as the all-rounder was known for attempting big shots irrespective of the match situation.
At first, he targeted Jadeja, hitting him for a four and a six in the 46th. The following over, from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, also brought two boundaries before Mohammad Shami kept Pakistan quiet in the 48th.
Kumar’s next over, with two wickets and just three runs, all but ended Pakistan’s hopes as Afridi watched on from the non-striker’s end.
The final over was handed to Ashwin, who had taken 2-31 in his nine overs thus far. The wily spinner gave India the perfect start by bowling Ajmal first up. Pakistani fans held their heads in disbelief while India’s celebrated wildly.
Junaid Khan was last in, and he played a perfect dab to pinch a single, bringing Afridi back on strike.
With nine needed off four, the stadium held its breath knowing Afridi could sway the match either way.
As Ashwin began his delivery stride, Afridi stepped back and swung hard at a short ball. The connection between was by no means ideal, but Afridi’s power cleared the ropes.
Afridi again gave himself room with the ball pitched closer to his body, but when has that ever stopped Afridi from playing a risky shot? Another wild swing skied the ball, but it again cleared the boundary.
Ashwin was all hands-on-head as the Indian team stood in disbelief.
Afridi was all arms lifted wide in his trademark star-man celebration as Junaid embraced him. A delighted Afridi gave Junaid a quick kiss on the cheek before the star all-rounder was mobbed by his teammates.
Brief scorecard
India: 245-8 in 50 overs – Rohit Sharma 56 (58), Ravindra Jadeja 52 (49); Saeed Ajmal 3-40 in 10 overs. Pakistan: 249-9 in 49.4 overs – Mohammad Hafeez 75 (117), Shahid Afridi 34 (18); Ravichandran Ashwin 3-44 in 9.4 overs.
Shahid Afridi celebrates his risky but rewarding run-chase against India in their Asia Cup 2014 match [File: Andrew Biraj/Reuters]
2016: Kohli trumps Amir in low-scoring thriller
The Asia Cup 2016 was the first played as a T20 and produced one-sided group games until India met Pakistan in the fourth match of the round-robin stage.
Pakistan lost Hafeez to the fourth ball of the match.
A poor umpiring decision, with Khurram Manzoor surviving a caught-behind, left India furious. However, Dhoni’s team didn’t have to wait too long for Manzoor’s departure as Afridi’s men continued to struggle on a low-scoring pitch, losing wickets in every other over.
In a total of 83, Sarfaraz Ahmed’s 25 was Pakistan’s only saving grace. Hardik Pandya led the attack with three wickets, but each of India’s bowlers chipped in, including a then-fresh-faced Jasprit Bumrah.
The chase was seemingly simple, given India’s power-packed batting. Mohammad Amir, playing his first Asia Cup since returning to the team following his cricket corruption-linked ban, had other plans.
The left-arm pacer made a near-perfect start, striking Rohit’s toes with a swinging yorker, only for it to be adjudged not out. There was no surviving the following inswinger, which struck the pads.
Kohli was next in to face the pumped-up Amir, swinging the ball to his will. A single switched strike with Ajinkya Rahane’s first ball ending up being his last, Amir swinging the ball back into the right-hander viciously to strike his pads plumb in front.
Amir’s second over, and India’s third, brought more lbw appeals as Kohli was struck on the pads by another skilful delivery that straightened, but failed to impress the umpire. Amir had his reward next ball, as Raina was the man to go, chipping an easy catch to short mid-on.
Kohli and Yuvraj Singh saw out Amir’s spell, nudging towards the target. Kohli, in particular, showed nerves of steel to see off Amir’s scintillating swing.
The Indian batting star soon reaped his reward, however, settling in to take boundaries off all the bowlers, including Amir’s last.
India’s charge was halted in the 15th when Kohli fell on 49, followed by Pandya, but the team total was 76-3. New batter Dhoni and Yuvraj took six more deliveries to finish the job.
India won by five wickets, but the match could have had a nervy finish were it not for Kohli’s brilliance.
Brief scorecard
Pakistan: 83 runs in 17.3 overs – Sarfaraz Ahmed 25 (24); Hardik Pandya 3-8 in 3.3 overs. India: 85-5 runs in 15.3 overs – Virat Kohli 49 (51); Mohammad Amir 3-18 in 4 overs.
Virat Kohli was the anchor of India’s innings in a low-scoring match against Pakistan in the T20 Asia Cup 2016 [AM Ahad/AP]
One of the fiercest and most widely followed rivalries in sport will be in the spotlight once again when India clashes with Pakistan in cricket’s T20 Asia Cup 2025.
Both teams will be riding a wave of confidence, given their recent form in T20 internationals.
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Defending champions India made a winning start to their campaign with a nine-wicket thrashing of hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their Group A game in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Pakistan enters the Asia Cup on the back of a tri-nation T20 series win against Afghanistan and the UAE in Sharjah.
Here’s everything you need to know about the match:
When and where is India vs Pakistan?
The Group A fixture is scheduled for Sunday and will begin at 6:30pm (14:30 GMT) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Why is Dubai hosting India vs Pakistan?
India was slated to host the tournament as per the hosting rights schedule, and while the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) remains the official host of the tournament, it is being played in the UAE due to the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.
Why doesn’t India play bilateral cricket series against Pakistan?
The Indian government has barred its athletes and teams from competing against their Pakistani counterparts in bilateral tournaments in all sports. Indian athletes are also barred from travelling to Pakistan, forcing all India-Pakistan encounters in multination sports tournaments to be hosted at a neutral venue.
Prior to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, both countries agreed to host each other at a neutral venue during ICC events.
India and Pakistan have mutually agreed to face each other only at neutral venues [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo]
What’s the weather forecast for India vs Pakistan in Dubai?
September is typically a hot month in the UAE, and this year is no different.
The weather forecast for Sunday is hot and humid, with highs of 41 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) and partial cloud cover.
It will get slightly cooler in the evening as the match will start just after sunset and the temperature will drop to 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit).
What happened in the last India vs Pakistan match?
The last meeting between India and Pakistan was at the same venue, Dubai, on February 23, in the group stage of the ICC Champions Trophy.
A Virat Kohli batting masterclass helped India win by six wickets on a slow Dubai pitch, where Pakistan posted 241 in 49.4 overs. It was India’s 58th win over Pakistan in one-day internationals (ODI). Pakistan have beaten India 73 times in the ODI format.
Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring his century and winning the match against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 [File: Satish Kumar/Reuters]
How many times has Pakistan won the Asia Cup?
Pakistan have lifted the trophy on two occasions – in 2000 and 2012 – and qualified for the final five times.
India are seven-time Asia Cup champions, with 11 appearances in the final.
How many times has India beaten Pakistan in the Asia Cup?
In their 19 clashes in the Asia Cup, India have beaten Pakistan 10 times and lost to their neighbours on six occasions. Three matches, including the group-stage match in 2023, were abandoned due to poor weather.
When was the last time Pakistan beat India?
Pakistan’s last Asia Cup win over India came in the 2022 edition in the UAE. Mohammad Rizwan top-scored with 71 runs in the Super Four clash, but it was Mohammad Nawaz’s 20-ball-41 that took Pakistan over the line in the run chase.
Mohammad Rizwan was the top scorer in Pakistan’s win over India in 2022 [File: Satish Kumar/Reuters]
How many times will India play Pakistan at the Asia Cup?
While Sunday’s match is, so far, the only confirmed India vs Pakistan match at the Asia Cup, they could meet again on September 21 in a Super Fours clash, should they qualify for the second stage.
The September 28 final offers cricket fans the chance of a third India vs Pakistan match in two weeks – if both teams qualify.
India vs Pakistan: Head-to-head in T20Is
Since the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, the countries have met in 13 T20Is. India has won 10 times, including the first match in 2007, which was tied and then decided in a Super Over.
Two of Pakistan’s three wins came in Dubai.
Players to watch: India
Abhishek Sharma: The fact that the young top-order batter has managed to carve a spot in a highly competitive T20 Indian batting lineup is enough to mark Sharma as one to watch in the Asia Cup. The 24-year-old boasts the highest career strike rate of 193 among all batters in T20s and backs it up with two centuries and half-centuries in the format.
Varun Chakaravarthy: The 34-year-old leg-spin bowler’s second foray into the Indian side has reaped him big rewards as he has taken 27 wickets in his last 12 T20I matches.
Players to watch: Pakistan
Hasan Nawaz: Pakistan have often been criticised for their batters’ inability to match modern-day T20 batting strike rates, but in Nawaz, they seem to have found a solution to this problem. The 23-year-old has a strike rate of 174, with a T20 hundred and two fifties in his 16 matches.
Sufiyan Muqeem: The left-arm wrist spinner has taken 25 wickets in his 17 T20Is since making his debut less than two years ago and has become a mainstay of the bowling lineup in limited-overs cricket.
Sufiyan Muqeem has become a mainstay of Pakistan’s bowling attack in T20Is [File: Rick Rycroft/AP Photo]
Form guide: India
Prior to the Asia Cup, India hadn’t played a T20 match since hosting England in a five-match series in January and February.
The T20 world champions won the series 4-1 to maintain their dominance at the top of the ICC T20 men’s teams rankings.
In fact, India have only lost three of the 20 T20s they have played since winning the World Cup in June 2024.
Last five results (most recent first): W-W-W-L-W
Form guide: Pakistan
Pakistan’s form in T20s has been mixed of late, and they have won three of their five T20 series this year.
They head into the marquee clash with a series win in the bag.
Last five results (most recent first): W-W-L-W-W
Team news: India
India have been bolstered by Jasprit Bumrah’s return to the T20 side after a long injury and workload management forced layoff.
They are likely to keep the same XI that beat the UAE in the opening match.
As is the norm in Pakistan cricket, the team has gone through a number of changes since the T20 World Cup 2024, including squad shuffling, a change of captaincy and the introduction of new coaching staff.
Since May, though, the team and captain have remained largely unchanged. Pakistan are likely to field a mix of youth and experience in their XI for Sunday’s match.
Predicted XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Salman Agha (captain), Hasan Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeem.
Squad: Salman Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem.
Where can I buy tickets for India vs Pakistan?
A selection of seats, starting at $135 apiece for the general stand and going up to $4,550 for a two-person hospitality box, are still available on the tournament’s official ticketing website, Platinumlist, and at the stadium’s ticketing office.
How to watch, follow and stream India vs Pakistan?
The Asia Cup cricket tournament starts on Tuesday, but for tournament organisers, sponsors and cricket fans from India and Pakistan, it won’t be before Sunday, when the two regional superpowers face each other, that the event will spring into action.
Any India vs Pakistan match is considered a marquee event, but the recent conflict between the two countries has brought extra heat to the encounter in Dubai.
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After all, it will be their first meeting since the South Asian archrivals returned from the brink of an all-out war in May, when both countries clashed at their shared border before an internationally-brokered ceasefire.
It has been almost 18 years since India and Pakistan last met in a Test match – the five-day version of cricket widely regarded as the pinnacle of the sport – and almost 13 years since either side crossed the border to play a bilateral series.
But between September 14 and 21, if results go the way the organisers hope for, Pakistan and India could end up playing three times.
A decades-old political rift between the two nuclear-armed countries is blamed for the frosty sporting ties, but the same differences are set aside when a regional or global cricket event comes around.
Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947, resulting in a bloody division of the subcontinent by the colonial British. Over the past 78 years, the nations have fought four wars, exchanged countless skirmishes and remained at odds primarily over the disputed Kashmir region that both claim in entirety but administer parts of.
The Asia Cup is no stranger to political influence and has faced the repercussions of strained ties between the two.
When India hosted the tournament in 1990-91 amid an uprising in India-administered Kashmir, Pakistan pulled out. The following edition, in 1993, was called off amid heightened tensions between the two sides.
But despite the strained relations on a political level and the current cricket impasse, which began in 2013, India and Pakistan have regularly faced each other at tournaments for the International Cricket Council (ICC) and for the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Asia Cup.
Pakistani, front, and Indian soldiers stand on their respective sides of their shared border during the flag-lowering ceremony in Wagah, Pakistan on May 4, 2025 [File: Rahat Dar/EPA]
‘Maximising eyeballs and revenue’
Why, then, is it impossible for both sides to separate politics from sport for bilateral exchanges if they can agree to share a cricket field potentially three times in two weeks?
“It’s all about maximising eyeballs and tournament revenue,” Sami Ul Hasan, former head of the ICC’s media and communication departments, told Al Jazeera.
“When the ICC plans a global event, organisers do not consider rankings or any other factors. It’s all about making sure India and Pakistan play against each other at least once.
“Over the last two decades, the ICC has changed the format of its tournaments multiple times in order to ensure that happens.”
The ICC has, in the past, admitted to fixing tournament draws to ensure Pakistan and India end up in the same group.
Post-tournament viewership figures confirm the high ratings for India-Pakistan matches.
According to the ICC, the India vs Pakistan fixture at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was one of the most-watched one-day international matches in India.
It generated over 26 billion minutes of watch time on TV, surpassing the India-Pakistan match from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which had recorded 19.5 billion viewing minutes.
Tournament organisers, such as the ICC and the ACC, typically sell broadcasting rights and sponsorships to the highest bidders.
The ICC and ACC distribute the revenue generated at these tournaments amongst their member nations, who stand to benefit from a higher number of India-Pakistan matches as well.
According to Hasan, the first question posed by broadcasters and sponsors is on India-Pakistan matches.
“It’s tricky to pull off multiple India-Pakistan games at global events, but easier to achieve this outcome in smaller tournaments such as the Asia Cup,” he said.
“Even at the Asia Cup, the most they’ve got so far is two matches per tournament. They have been trying for a third [in the final] but it hasn’t materialised yet.”
In the tournament’s 16 iterations since its inception in 1984, India and Pakistan have never met in a final.
Fans gather at a viewing party for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in New York City, the US, on June 9, 2024 [File: Yuki Iwamura/AP]
‘Don’t care about India vs Pakistan’
Although India versus Pakistan is always the biggest draw at any cricket tournament, fans from other participating nations are not bothered by the lack of attention and respect shown to their teams.
“I only care about Sri Lanka and not about what happens in an India-Pakistan match as long as Sri Lanka walks away with the cup,” Mohammad Akram, a Sri Lankan, said.
“For us, it’s about our team and the same goes for fans of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other countries.
“Sri Lanka has always been sidelined. It has always been about India and Pakistan, but we don’t mind because our team has played the most finals.”
Sri Lanka are the second most successful team in the Asia Cup and have qualified for a record 13 finals, lifting the trophy six times. Another win in the final would tie them with the reigning champions India.
Sri Lanka are the second most successful team at the Asia Cup [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP]
Bending the rules
The focus on this rivalry can sometimes lead to unprecedented decision-making and bending of the rules.
At the last Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka two years ago, the India-Pakistan group-stage game was abandoned due to rain. As both teams reached the next round, and with more rain expected, organisers set aside a reserve day to their Super Four fixture, the only match in that round to benefit from the allocation.
That decision was taken in the middle of the tournament, raising eyebrows and attracting criticism from cricket experts and fans of other participating countries.
“Rules must not be bent for anyone. What happened then did not set a good example for the game,” Hasan said. “Playing conditions and rules are signed off prior to the tournament and are not tinkered with.
“Changing them to accommodate certain fixtures gives out a message that everything is about money and commercialisation of that single fixture.”
India and Pakistan faced each other twice in the Asia Cup 2023, but their first match was abandoned due to bad weather [File: Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images]
India’s sporting ambitions
Despite the ongoing political rift between India and Pakistan, both sets of cricket boards and governments have given these fixtures a green light.
In August, India announced a new sports policy whereby its teams and athletes will not be allowed to engage in bilateral sports events with Pakistan, but can face them in international tournaments.
It also prohibited Indian athletes from travelling to Pakistan and refused to host teams and individuals from Pakistan.
The move, according to former ICC official Hasan, is to ensure that India’s ambitions of bidding for the 2036 Olympics and the 2030 Commonwealth Games are not affected.
“For India to say it doesn’t want to play against Pakistan due to political reasons would weaken its case as a potential global sporting hub,” he said.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India, the world’s most populous nation [Amit Dave/Reuters]
Islamabad, Pakistan – For the second time in three years, catastrophic monsoon floods have carved a path of destruction across Pakistan’s north and central regions, particularly in its Punjab province, submerging villages, drowning farmland, displacing millions and killing hundreds.
This year, India – Pakistan’s archrival and a nuclear-armed neighbour – is also reeling. Its northern states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Indian Punjab, have seen widespread flooding as heavy monsoon rains swell rivers on both sides of the border.
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Pakistani authorities say that since late June, when the monsoon season began, at least 884 people have died nationally, more than 220 of them in Punjab. On the Indian side, the casualty count has crossed 100, with more than 30 dead in Indian Punjab.
Yet, shared suffering hasn’t brought the neighbours closer: In Pakistan’s Punjab, which borders India, federal minister Ahsan Iqbal has, in fact, accused New Delhi of deliberately releasing excess water from dams without timely warnings.
“India has started using water as a weapon and has caused wide-scale flooding in Punjab,” Iqbal said last month, citing releases into the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers, all of which originate in Indian territory and flow into Pakistan.
Iqbal further said that releasing flood water was the “worst example of water aggression” by India, which he said threatened lives, property and livelihoods.
“Some issues should be beyond politics, and water cooperation must be one of them,” the minister said on August 27, while he participated in rescue efforts in Narowal city, his constituency that borders India.
Those accusations come amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, and the breakdown of a six-decade-old pact that helped them share waters for rivers that are lifelines to both nations.
But experts argue that the evidence is thin to suggest that India might have deliberately sought to flood Pakistan – and the larger nation’s own woes point to the risks of such a strategy, even if New Delhi were to contemplate it.
Weaponising water
Flood-affected people walk along the shelters at a makeshift camp in Chung, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, on August 31, 2025. Nearly half a million people have been displaced by flooding in eastern Pakistan after days of heavy rain swelled rivers [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]
Relations between India and Pakistan, already at a historic low, plummeted further in April after the Pahalgam attack, in which gunmen killed 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for the attack and walked out of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the transboundary agreement that governs the Indus Basin’s six rivers.
Pakistan rejected the accusation that it was in any way behind the Pahalgam attack. But in early May, the neighbours waged a four-day conflict, targeting each other’s military bases with missiles and drones in the gravest military escalation between them in almost three decades.
Under the IWT, the two countries were required to exchange detailed water-flow data regularly. With India no longer adhering to the pact, fears have mounted in recent months that New Delhi could either try to stop the flow of water into Pakistan, or flood its western neighbour through sudden, large releases.
After New Delhi suspended its participation in the IWT, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah in June said the treaty would never be restored, a stance that prompted protests in Pakistan and accusations of “water terrorism”.
But while the Indian government has not issued a formal response to accusations that it has chosen to flood Pakistan, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has, in the last two weeks, shared several warnings of possible cross-border flooding on “humanitarian grounds”.
And water experts say that attributing Pakistan’s floods primarily to Indian water releases from dams is an “oversimplification” of the causes of the crisis that risks obscuring the urgent, shared challenges posed by climate change and ageing infrastructure.
“The Indian decision to release water from their dam has not caused flooding in Pakistan,” said Daanish Mustafa, a professor of critical geography at King’s College London.
“India has major dams on its rivers, which eventually make their way to Pakistan. Any excess water that will be released from these rivers will significantly impact India’s own states first,” he told Al Jazeera.
Shared monsoon strain
Both Pakistan and India depend on glaciers in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges to feed their rivers. For Pakistan, the Indus river basin is a lifeline. It supplies water to most of the country’s roughly 250 million people and underpins its agriculture.
Pakistan’s monsoon floods have pushed the nationwide death toll past 800, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes due to surging water [A Hussain/EPA]
Under the IWT, India controls the three eastern rivers – Ravi, Sutlej and Beas – while Pakistan controls the three western rivers, Jhelum, Chenab and Indus.
India is obligated to allow waters of the western rivers to flow into Pakistan with limited exceptions, and to provide timely, detailed hydrological data.
India has built dams on the eastern rivers it controls, and the flow of the Ravi and Sutlej into Pakistan has considerably reduced since then. It has also built dams on some of the western rivers – it is allowed to, under the treaty, as long as that does not affect the volume of water flowing into Pakistan.
But melting glaciers and an unusually intense summer monsoon pushed river levels on both sides of the border dangerously high this year.
In Pakistan, glacial outbursts followed by heavy rains raised levels in the western rivers, while surging flows put infrastructure on the eastern rivers in India at serious risk.
Mustafa of King’s College said that dams – like other infrastructure – are designed keeping in mind a safe capacity of water that they can hold, and are typically meant to operate for about 100 years. But climate change has dramatically altered the average rainfall that might have been taken into account while designing these projects.
“The parameters used to build the dams are now obsolete and meaningless,” he said. “When the capacity of the dams is exceeded, water must be released or it will put the entire structure at risk of destruction.”
Among the major dams upstream in Indian territory are Salal and Baglihar on the Chenab; Pong on the Beas; Bhakra on the Sutlej; and Ranjit Sagar (also known as Thein) on the Ravi.
These dams are based in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, with vast areas of Indian territory between them and the border.
Blaming India for the flooding in Pakistan makes no sense, said Shiraz Memon, a former Pakistani representative on the bilateral commission tasked under the IWT to monitor the implementation of the pact.
“Instead of acknowledging that India has shared warnings, we are blaming them of water terrorism. It is [a] simple, natural flood phenomenon,” Memon said, adding that by the end of August, reservoirs across the region were full.
“With water at capacity, spillways had to be opened for downstream releases. This is a natural solution as there is no other option available,” he told Al Jazeera.
Politics of blame
Stranded pilgrims cross a water channel using a makeshift bridge the day after flash floods in Chositi village, Kishtwar district, in Indian-administered Kashmir last month [Channi Anand/AP Photo]
According to September 3 data on India’s Central Water Commission website, at least a dozen sites face a “severe” flood situation, and another 19 are above normal flood levels.
The same day, Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources issued a notification, quoting a message from the Indian High Commission, warning of “high flood” on the Sutlej and Tawi rivers.
It was the fourth such notice by India after three earlier warnings last week, but none contained detailed hydrological data.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Department, in a report on September 4, said on the Pakistani side, two sites on the Sutlej and Ravi faced “extremely high” flood levels, while two other sites on the Ravi and Chenab saw “very high” levels.
The sheer volume of water during an intense monsoon often exceeds any single dam or barrage’s capacity. Controlled releases have become a necessary, if dangerous, part of flood management on both sides of the border, said experts.
They added that while the IWT obliged India to alert Pakistan to abnormal flows, Pakistan also needs better monitoring and real-time data systems rather than relying solely on diplomatic exchanges.
The blame game, analysts warn, can serve short-term political purposes on both sides, especially after May’s conflict.
For India, suspending the treaty is framed as a firm stance against what it sees as Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism. For Pakistan, blaming India can provide a political scapegoat that distracts from domestic failures in flood mitigation and governance.
“Rivers are living, breathing entities. This is what they do; they are always on the move. You cannot control the flood, especially a high or severe flood,” academic Mustafa said.
Blaming India won’t stop the floods. But, he added, it appears to be an “easy way out to relinquish responsibility”.
Islamabad, Pakistan – India on August 20 announced that it had successfully test-fired Agni-V, its intermediate-range ballistic missile, from a test range in Odisha on its eastern Bay of Bengal coast.
The Agni-V, meaning “fire” in Sanskrit, is 17.5 metres long, weighs 50,000kg, and can carry more than 1,000kg of nuclear or conventional payload. Capable of travelling more than 5,000km at hypersonic speeds of nearly 30,000km per hour, it is among the fastest ballistic missiles in the world.
The Agni test came exactly a week after Pakistan announced the formation of a new Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC), aimed, say experts, at plugging holes in its defensive posture exposed by India during the four-day conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
But experts say the latest Indian test might be a message less for Pakistan and more for another neighbour that New Delhi is cautiously warming up to again: China.
The Agni’s range puts most of Asia, including China’s northern regions, and parts of Europe within reach. This was the missile’s 10th test since 2012 and its first since March last year, but its timing, say analysts, was significant.
It came just ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, amid a thaw in ties – after years of tension over their disputed border – that has been accelerated by United States President Donald Trump’s tariff war against India. On Wednesday, the US tariffs on Indian goods doubled to 50 percent amid tensions over New Delhi’s oil purchases from Russia.
Yet despite that shift in ties with Beijing, India continues to view China as its primary threat in the neighbourhood, say experts, underscoring the complex relationship between the world’s two most populous nations. And it’s at China that India’s development of medium and long-range missiles is primarily aimed, they say.
India’s missile advantage over Pakistan
While India acknowledged losing an unspecified number of fighter jets during the May skirmish with Pakistan, it also inflicted significant damage on Pakistani military bases, particularly with its supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles.
The BrahMos, capable of carrying nuclear or conventional payloads of up to 300kg, has a range of about 500km. Its low altitude, terrain-hugging trajectory and blistering speed make it difficult to intercept, allowing it to penetrate Pakistani territory with relative ease.
Many experts argue that this context shows the Agni-V test is not directly linked to Pakistan’s announcement of the ARFC. Instead, they say, the test was likely a signal to China. Indian and Chinese troops were in an eyeball-to-eyeball standoff along their disputed Himalayan border for four years after a deadly clash in 2020, before Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia in October 2024 to begin a process of detente.
Modi’s visit to China for the SCO summit on Sunday will be his first to that country since 2018. In the past, India has often felt betrayed by overtures to China, which, it claims, have frequently been followed by aggression from Beijing along their border.
“India’s requirement for a long-range, but not intercontinental, missile is dictated by its threat perception of China,” Manpreet Sethi, a distinguished fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for Air Power Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“Agni-V is a nuclear-capable ballistic missile of 5,000km range, which India has been developing as part of its nuclear deterrence capability against China. It has no relevance to Pakistan,” Sethi added.
Christopher Clary, assistant professor of political science at the University at Albany, agreed.
“While the Agni-V might be usable against Pakistan, its primary mission would involve strikes on China,” he told Al Jazeera. “China’s east coast, where its most economically and politically important cities are situated, is hard to reach from India and requires long-range missiles.”
Missile race across South Asia
India and Pakistan have been steadily expanding their missile arsenals in recent years, unveiling new systems with increasing reach.
Before announcing the ARFC, Pakistan showcased the Fatah-4, a cruise missile with a 750km range and the capability to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.
India, meanwhile, is working on Agni-VI, which is expected to have a range exceeding 10,000km and carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), a capability already present in Agni-V.
MIRV-enabled missiles can carry several nuclear warheads, each capable of striking a separate target, significantly boosting their destructive potential.
Mansoor Ahmed, an honorary lecturer at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, said India’s latest test demonstrates its growing intercontinental missile capabilities.
“With India working on different variants of Agni with multiple capabilities, this test was a technological demonstrator for India’s emerging submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capability,” Ahmed said.
“Depending on the configuration of the warheads for India’s SLBMs, India will be able to deploy anywhere between 200-300 warheads on its SSBN force alone over the next decade,” he added. SSBNs (ship, submersible, ballistic, nuclear) are nuclear-powered submarines designed to carry SLBMs armed with nuclear warheads. India currently has two SSBNs in service, with two more under construction.
Pakistan, by contrast, does not possess long-range missiles or nuclear submarines. Its longest-range operational ballistic missile, the Shaheen-III, has a range of 2,750km.
“Pakistan also has South Asia’s first MIRV-enabled ballistic missile called Ababeel, which can strike up to 2,200km range, but it is the shortest-ranged MIRV-enabled system deployed by any nuclear-armed state,” Ahmed said.
Tughral Yamin, a former Pakistani army brigadier and nuclear policy scholar, said the countries’ missile ambitions reflect divergent priorities.
“Pakistan’s programme is entirely Indian-specific and defensive in nature, while India’s ambitions extend beyond the subcontinent. Its long-range systems are designed for global power projection, particularly vis-a-vis China, and to establish itself as a great power with credible deterrence against major states,” said Yamin, author of The Evolution of Nuclear Deterrence in South Asia.
But some experts say Pakistan’s missile development programme isn’t only about India.
Ashley J Tellis, the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), said that while “India wants to be able to range China and Pakistan,” Islamabad is building the capability to keep Israel – and even the US – in its range, in addition to India.
“The conventional missile force in both countries is designed to strike critical targets without putting manned strike aircraft at risk,” Tellis told Al Jazeera.
US concerns over Pakistan’s ambitions, quiet acceptance of India’s rise
Pakistan’s missile programme came under intense spotlight in December last year when a senior White House official warned of Islamabad’s growing ambitions.
Jon Finer, serving in the then-Biden administration, described Pakistan’s pursuit of advanced missile technology as an “emerging threat” to the United States.
Pakistan publicly displayed its Fatah-4 missile on the eve of the country’s 78th Independence Day on August 14, 2025, in Islamabad [Anjum Naveed/AP Photo]
“If the trend continues, Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States,” Finer said during an event at the CEIP.
By contrast, Tellis said India’s growing arsenal is not viewed as destabilising by Washington or its allies.
“Pakistan’s capabilities in contrast are viewed as unsettling because the early history of its nuclear programme had anti-Western overtones, sentiments that have taken on a specific anti-US colouration after 9/11 and the Abbottabad raid,” Tellis explained, referring to the US capture of Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan in 2011.
Ahmed, the Canberra-based academic, said India’s long-range missile development is openly supported by Western powers as part of the US-led Asia Pacific strategy.
“The US and European powers have viewed and encouraged India to act as a net security provider. The India-US civil nuclear deal and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver effectively gave India de facto nuclear weapons status without signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” he said.
The NPT is a Cold War-era treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy and advancing the goal of nuclear disarmament. It formally recognises only the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain as nuclear weapons states.
But the 2008 waiver from the NSG – a club of 48 nations that sell nuclear material and technology – allowed India to engage in global nuclear trade despite not being an NPT signatory, a unique status that elevated its global standing.
Clary from the University of Albany, however, pointed out that unlike the Biden administration, the current Trump White House has not expressed any concerns about Pakistan’s missile programme – or about India’s Agni-V test.
“For now, so long as Pakistan keeps its missile tests limited to ranges already demonstrated by the Shaheen-III and Ababeel, I don’t expect Western governments to concern themselves overly with South Asia’s missile developments,” he said. “There are more than enough other problems to keep them busy.”
