Colombo, Oct. 4 -- A contest between India and Pakistan is never just a game, and when the Women's World Cup throws them together at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium here tomorrow, the stakes promise to go beyond runs and wickets.
For the record, India Women have bossed this rivalry like a well-tuned orchestra - eleven matches, eleven wins, the last one a 107-run thrashing in the 2022 World Cup. The momentum is with them again, after brushing aside hosts Sri Lanka in their opener by 59 runs under the DLS method, powered by Deepti Sharma's all-round artistry and Amanjot Kaur's gutsy fifty.
Yet, as ever with India-Pakistan, the subtext is almost as compelling as the cricket. The "handshake row" that dogged the men's team has no...