No handshake but Rohit Sharma ‘hugs’ THIS star Pakistan cricketer, video goes viral

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026: Former India captain Rohit Sharma was present in Colombo as brand ambassador of the ICC tournament on Sunday.

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026: Former India captain Rohit Sharma was a special guest at the Group A match of T20 World Cup 2026 between arch-rivals India and Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday. Rohit is officially ICC’s brand ambassador for the T20 World Cup and was also seen in India’s opening fixture against USA at his homeground at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai earlier this month.

Rohit, who led India to the T20 World Cup 2024 title, also flew down to Colombo for the all-important Group A clash. Amid all the talk of possible ‘boycott’ of the match by Pakistan, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav continued the tradition of having no ‘handshake’ with Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha after the toss.

Team India have been following this protocol since the Asia Cup 2025 in UAE last year in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam last year followed by Indian response of ‘Operation Sindoor’. Suryakumar Yadav continued this tradition in Colombo as well.

However, much to the surprise of Indian cricket fans, Rohit Sharma was seen ‘hugging’ former Pakistan captain and all-rounder Wasim Akram ahead of the match between India and Pakistan. Rohit and Akram were both on the field on the invitation of the ICC. The hug between the India and Pakistan cricketers soon went viral on social media.

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WATCH Rohit Sharma hug Wasim Akram before India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026 match HERE…

Here is Wasim Akram and Rohit Sharma showing what Sportsmanship looks like.
Legends exchanged Hugs and handshakes with smiles.
This is how it should be in the ground, let the Bhkts and Govt. cry in the corner#INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/8RgDLSWvlE
— Nehr_who? (@Nher_who) February 16, 2026

Speaking in a video posted by ICC on Instagram on being asked about his favourite T20WC moment against Pakistan, Rohit Sharma said, “There have been lots actually. But I would definitely pick the finals that we played, my first-ever World Cup final. An inaugural World Cup 2007, which we won. That was very, very special to me. And obviously, recently, a couple of years ago, we played a game in Melbourne. That was just outstanding as well.”

Meanwhile, Team India extended their head-to-head record against Pakistan to 8-1 in the T20 World Cup tournament. Suryakumar Yadav’s side hammered Pakistan by 61 runs – their biggest-ever win against their arch-rivals in the T20 World Cup.

The Indians posted 175 for 7 after batting first with opener Ishan Kishan leading the way with a blazing 77 off 40 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes. In response, Pakistan were bundled out for only 114 with Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel picking up a couple of wickets each.

“This is for India. We played the same brand of cricket we wanted to play. The way Ishan batted, he batted the same way (he has been batting in the last few games and domestic cricket). Ishan thought something out of the box. At 0-1, someone needed to take responsibility and he did that amazingly. There was a bit of a slump but that is the beauty of T20 cricket,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said after the match.

For all latest updates of T20 World Cup 2026 you can visit: https://www.india.com/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2026/

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The Times Of Bengal