Cricket’s biggest rivalry is in the news again, and the spotlight is on the U19 teams handshake dispute between India and Pakistan. They will face each other in the ACC Men’s Under-19 Asia Cup 2025 on December 14 in Dubai.
Before the match, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has asked both teams to follow the normal post-match handshake and avoid bringing politics into the game.
India, led by young captain Ayush Mhatre, is getting attention because of what happened in the senior Men’s Asia Cup 2025. In that tournament, India beat Pakistan three times and won the title.
During those matches, Indian players were told not to shake hands with the Pakistan team. This was done as a symbolic response to the Pahalgam terror attack in May 2025.
People kept talking about this issue during the whole tournament. It also happened again in the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 and the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Asia Cup. Since the problem continued, the ICC decided it was time to get involved and stop it.
ICC wants politics kept away from junior cricket
According to officials, the ICC has clearly said that it does not want political actions to affect junior cricket tournaments. The ICC has asked the BCCI to follow normal match rules to keep the spirit and image of youth cricket positive.
A BCCI official, talking about the situation, said:
“The boys haven’t been told anything. But obviously BCCI has given explicit instructions to its manager Anand Datar. Now if Indian boys don’t shake hands with the Pakistan team then the match referee will have to be informed in advance. We know for a fact that ICC doesn’t want politics to take front seat when it comes to junior cricket. So it is a case of both bad optics and public sentiment,”
Final call rests with the BCCI
The ICC has asked the BCCI to make sure normal handshakes happen in the U19 Asia Cup. As the tournament approaches, the decision now rests with U19 team manager Anand Datar and head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
They must decide whether the players will follow the no-handshake policy or shake hands normally, as expected by the ICC. This choice is important to keep the spirit of youth cricket positive and avoid politics from affecting the game.
Asia Cup U19: India’s Group and Schedule
India find themselves in Group A, alongside:
Pakistan, UAE, Malaysia
Their fixtures include:
December 12: India vs UAE
December 14: India vs Pakistan
December 16: India vs Malaysia
The ODI-format tournament features 15 matches, with the final set for December 21.
India’s U19 squad for Asia Cup: Ayush Mhatre (C), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Vihaan Malhotra (vc), Vedant Trivedi, Abhigyan Kundu (wk), Harvansh Singh (wk), Yuvraj Gohil, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan A. Patel, Naman Pushpak, D. Deepesh, Henil Patel, Kishan Kumar Singh*, Udhav Mohan, Aaron George.
