 "India, Pakistan maintain 'no handshake' policy at toss during U-19 Asia Cup showdown in Dubai")
India captain Ayush Mhatre maintained the “no-handshake” policy during his team’s ACC U-19 Asia Cup showdown against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Mhatre and his Pakistani counterpart Farhan Yousaf had ignored each other during the toss, which was delayed by nearly an hour due to rain at Dubai’s ICC Academy, with Yousuf going on to elect to field.
LIVE | India vs Pakistan, U-19 Asia Cup Group A match in Dubai
The Sunday showdown between India and Pakistan marks the sixth time the two arch-rivals have faced each other in tournaments organised either by the ICC or by the ACC since September. And what’s been common in each of the previous five meetings is the fact that the Indian captain has refused to shake the hand of his/her Pakistani counterpart.
How the ’no handshake’ policy between India and Pakistan had begun
The trend had begun in the Senior Men’s Asia Cup in September. Men in Blue skipper Suryakumar Yadav had decided against shaking Salman Ali Agha’s hand in protest against the Pahalgam terror attack as well as the subsequent military conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
India had faced Pakistan thrice in that tournament, including in the final on 28 September, and emerged triumphant on each occasion. India women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur maintained a similar stance during the Women’s World Cup showdown in Colombo in October, as did Jitesh Sharma during the ACC Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament in Doha last month.
As for the ongoing tournament, both India and Pakistan begun their campaigns on a dominant note. India thrashed hosts UAE by 234 runs in the tournament opener on Friday, posting 433/6 thanks to Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s 171 off 95 balls. Pakistan had inflicted a 297-run defeat on Malaysia later on the same day, bundling the minnows out for a paltry 48.
India vs Pakistan U-19 Asia Cup Playing XIs
India U-19: Ayush Mhatre(c), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Aaron George, Vihaan Malhotra, Vedant Trivedi, Abhigyan Kundu(wk), Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Deepesh Devendran, Kishan Kumar Singh, Henil Patel
Pakistan U-19: Usman Khan, Sameer Minhas, Ali Hassan Baloch, Ahmed Hussain, Farhan Yousaf(c), Hamza Zahoor(wk), Huzaifa Ahsan, Niqab Shafiq, Abdul Subhan, Mohammad Sayyam, Ali Raza
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