You may represent the senior team. You may play for the Women’s team. Or you may take part in Youth ODIs. If you represent India, you just can’t shake hands with your Pakistani counterparts. This has been the policy laid out by the BCCI ever since the Asia Cup 2025. The ‘no handshake’ policy that made more rounds than the actual cricket last year has continued in Sunday’s India vs Pakistan Under-19 Super Six game at the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2026 in Zimbabwe.
During the toss, it is customary for both the captains to greet each other with a shake of hands. But that sight, expectedly was missing when Ayush Mhatre of India and Farhan Yousuf of Pakistan walked out to the pitch in Bulawayo. No handshake, just the toss, where Pakistan opted to chase in order to save their tournament. India are all but through to the semi-finals but they need to avoid a heavy defeat. Pakistan, meanwhile, have an outside chance if they bundle India quickly and chase down inside 30 overs. Certainly an improbable task.
IND vs PAK no handshake policy continues
Ever since Pakistan operated a terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, India haven’t been the same against them. The development from the government is that the two teams can only play each other in multi-nation tournaments.
India’s senior team captain, Suryakumar Yadav, had refused to greet Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha thrice in the 2025 Asia Cup, setting a precedent. This trend continued with Harmanpreet Kaur and Fatima Sana ignoring each other at the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup. Similar incidents occurred during the Men’s Under-19 2025 Asia Cup and are now being seen in the Men’s Under-19 2026 ODI World Cup.
Even in the India vs Bangladesh game at the Under-19 World Cup, there was no handshake. India and Bangladesh relations aren’t great either, with Bangladesh pulling out of the T20 World Cup 2026 just because they didn’t feel safe coming to India. However, later, the BCB confirmed the reason why the captains didn’t shake hands in the Under-19 tournament.
