India's Asia Cup U-19 campaign will be led by next-generation batting stars Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre. However, whether the BCCI allows the children to share handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts, which would be interpreted as fostering sporting civility at the junior level, will be watched closely.

The India U-19 team, led by energetic Mumbai and CSK opener Mhatre, kicks off its campaign against the UAE on Friday. However, the encounter versus Pakistan on Sunday is expected to receive the greatest attention, as this junior Asia Cup tournament acts as a warm-up for the World Cup early next year.

In previous senior men's Asia Cup matches, as well as the Women's ODI World Cup and the Rising Stars Asia Cup T20 event, Indian players have refused to shake hands with Pakistani players in solidarity with the Indian Army and the victims of the Pahalgam terror assault.

Nonetheless, it is thought that the ICC prefers to keep politics out of U-19 cricket, ensuring that standard sportsmanship protocols are observed.

A BCCI official stated that the India U19 stars haven’t been told anything, but the team manager has been instructed that if the players don’t want to shake hands with Pakistani counterparts, then the management must inform the match referee.

“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,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by PTI.

India and Pakistan are placed in Group A withthe  UAE and Malaysia. In India’s squad of 15, these two players have each participated in over 30 senior-level games across three formats, collectively scoring nine centuries.