Did India and Pakistan players shake hands? Revisiting the recent history of no-handshake policy in IND vs PAK matches originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
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India’s U19 captain skipped the customary handshake with Pakistan’s skipper at the toss in Oman.
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India won the toss and chose to bat first in the Group A contest.
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Did India and Pakistan players shake hands ahead of U-19 Asia Cup 2026?
Cricket fans know the drill by now that whenever India and Pakistan share a field, the question isn’t really about who wins anymore; it’s whether the players will even shake hands.
India captain Lakshya Raichandani and his Pakistan counterpart Farhan Yousaf walked out together at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground for their Asia Cup U19 Group A game, but neither of them shook hands or greeted each other.
The coin was flipped by the Indian captain; Yousaf made the call, and India won the toss and decided to bat first.
After the decision was announced, the two captains stayed apart, and Yousaf walked back while Raichandani was still talking to the match officials.
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How did the no-handshake policy between India and Pakistan begin and spread across formats?
During the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup, the BCCI first introduced the no-handshake protocol, as a direct response to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22, 2025.
Under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy, the Indian men’s team avoided any handshakes with Salman Ali Agha’s Pakistan side across all three meetings that tournament, right through to the final.
What started as a one-off stance during that tournament has since become something of a standard practice across Indian cricket, cutting across age groups, genders and formats.
Pakistan women cricket T20
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The women’s team first held the line during their World Cup fixture against Pakistan in Colombo back in October 2025, and Indian players followed suit again at the Men’s Rising Stars Asia Cup that November.
The policy carried through both India-Pakistan meetings at the Under-19 Asia Cup in December 2025, and neither side exchanged handshakes during their Under-19 World Cup clash or at the Men’s T20 World Cup in February 2026. Most recently, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side kept the streak alive in June 2026, avoiding handshakes with Pakistan’s captain and players during their Women’s T20 World Cup encounter in Birmingham.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
