Indian blind women's team display exemplary sportsmanship after dominant win against Pakistan

The Indian blind women’s cricket team did not follow the Indian men’s team’s path when they met their Pakistani counterparts at the first-ever Women’s T20 World Cup for the Blind in Colombo on Sunday. While Suryakumar Yadav and his team chose to forget sportsmanship due to instructions from the top and pressure from a certain section of society back home, the women’s team remembered it well and maintained the true spirit of the game.

During the 2025 Asia Cup T20 earlier this year, the Indian men’s team took a last-minute decision to boycott Pakistan after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) started receiving criticism for agreeing to play an “enemy state” just months after both countries fought a four-day bloody war. The skirmishes at the border were a result of Operation Sindoor, which India launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

But the BCCI remembered that Pakistan should not be engaged with only after the public pressure began. Before that, the tournament was fully planned, with at least two India vs Pakistan matches scheduled and the possibility of a third if both teams reached the final. The Pahalgam attack or the subsequent war did not seem to bother the BCCI top brass until people at home began to question their stance.

Indian blind women’s team show how cricket should be played

But the Indian blind women’s team didn’t bow down to the outside noise and upheld the spirit of the game by shaking hands with their opponents after the toss and after the match.

The Pakistani men’s team did prove after their first encounter with India, once they realised what Gautam Gambhir and his players were trying to do and their players stooped to making gestures, that how their nation often spreads false propaganda and why they deserve strong action, but that is for governments to decide, not sportspeople.

As far as the blind women’s game is concerned, it turned out to be a comfortable outing for the Indian side as they beat Pakistan by eight wickets. India made the chase look effortless, racing to 136 for 2 in only 10 overs and notching up their fifth consecutive victory of the tournament.