Despite an apparent request from the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Indian cricket squad maintained a 'no-handshake policy' against Pakistan in the U19 Asia Cup 2025.

According to a PTI report, the ICC wanted politics out of the U19 competition and even urged that handshakes take place.  In the past, Indian players did not shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in the senior men's Asia Cup, women's ODI World Cup, or Rising Stars Asia Cup T20 competition.

The pattern repeated on Sunday during the U19 Asia Cup Group A match, when India captain Ayush Mhatre declined to shake hands with Pakistan captain Farhan Yousaf after the toss.

Earlier, PTI reported that the ICC stated that if India does not want to shake hands with Pakistan, it must notify the match referee in advance.

"The boys haven't been told anything. But obviously, BCCI has given explicit instructions to its manager, Anand Datar. No,w 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 had told PTI.

Coming to the match, Yousaf won the toss and decided to bowl first against India. The high-voltage match between India U19 and Pakistan U19 was reduced to 49 overs per side due to rain.

At the time of writing this article, India had made 122/4 in 22 overs, with Aaron George unbeaten on 51. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made five runs before being dismissed by Mohammad Sayyam, while captain Ayush Mhatre made 38 runs before Sayyam dismissed him as well.