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India vs Pakistan: Do you want to see the handshake on Sunday?
Now, as the Indian team prepare to face Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, Dubai residents hope the high-profile fixture will not reopen old wounds
- PUBLISHED: Thu 12 Feb 2026, 10:34 PM UPDATED: Fri 13 Feb 2026, 12:07 AM
More than six decades have passed, but Shyam Bhatia still remembers an inconsequential school match with surprising clarity.
In his teens, Bhatia was part of a team in a friendly game trying to dislodge a resolute youngster who batted with refreshing freedom, bravely taking on the older bowlers of the rival team.
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But as the young boy reached the nervous 90s, he inevitably made an error of judgment, running for a single when there was none.
With his sharp reflexes, Bhatia could have hit the stumps, but he deliberately threw the ball wide, allowing the batsman to scramble home for his hundred.
“Of course, I would have never done it in a competitive match. It was just a friendly, and I didn’t want to break that young boy’s heart,” Bhatia recalled.
“He was batting so well, so if I had hit the stumps, it probably would have broken his spirit!”
Bhatia didn’t go on to become a professional cricketer, but he ended up becoming a passionate cricket promoter who found joy in the smiling faces of young cricketers.
His initiative, Cricket for Care, has delivered kits to children in many countries across the world, including Afghanistan, when the landlocked Asian country was in the grip of the American war on the Taliban.
Now, as the Indian team prepare to face fierce rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, following a boycott threat from Pakistan’s cricket board, Bhatia hopes the high-profile fixture will not reopen old wounds.
The ugly side of geopolitics almost ruined the game before cricket's governing body stepped in to break the impasse, just months after a bitter handshake controversy at the Asia Cup matches between the two teams threw the sport into chaos.
“I am fine with whoever wins on Sunday, but I hope they will shake hands at the end of the match because the game should move forward, not backwards,” the octogenarian Dubai resident said.
“Let’s leave politics to the politicians. I hope nobody compels these cricketers to do anything else — they should be allowed to play cricket in the right spirit on Sunday.
"And I know they would not be breaking ICC rules by avoiding a handshake, but the absence of that gesture would certainly break the spirit of the game.”
Mohamed Lokhandwala, Bhatia’s long-time friend who played club cricket in Dubai and Sharjah before becoming the manager of the UAE national team, was emphatic in his response when asked if he expected the Indian players to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in Colombo.
“Of course, I want the players to shake hands and bury the past. Cricket should unite people, not divide,” the Indian expat said.
“You know, when I came to Dubai (in the early 1980s), I used to play with the Pakistanis for the Air India team in the UAE’s club matches. Imagine Indians and Pakistanis playing together for the Air India team in Dubai. That’s the spirit of the game.”
Tariq Butt, the Dubai-based former Pakistani umpire, said if not for cricket, he would not have been able to count the iconic Sachin Tendulkar among his friends.
“When I was a match official at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the 1980s and 1990s, Sachin would always request me to bring him his favourite Kerala-style ‘omelette paratha wrap’,” Butt recalled.
“There was political tension between India and Pakistan even then, but Sachin never looked at me as a Pakistani. There was always a warm handshake whenever he spotted me on the ground.”
Butt now hopes Indian and Pakistani players will take a leaf out of Tendulkar’s book when they enter the ground on Sunday.
“These cricketers must understand that millions of young children are watching them,” he said. “They have to set an example, like Sachin always did. It’s not just about winning matches — it’s about not breaking young spirits.”
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.