Ayush Mhatre follows Suryakumar Yadav's footsteps as India, Bangladesh captains skip toss handshake at U-19 World Cup

The strained political relations between India and Bangladesh might have played a part in the ongoing ICC U-19 World Cup 2026 as the captains refrained from customary handshake at the coin toss at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Saturday. While India were represented by captain Ayush Mhatre at the toss, Bangladesh sent vice-captain Zawad Abrar.

During the toss, Mhatre and Abrar didn't shake hands before or after spinning the coin. However, none of the teams have made any official comment regarding the incident. The act of no handshake started last year during the Asia Cup 2025 when Indian senior men's team captain Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands with Pakistan's Salman Agha.

Suryakumar's act was in protest in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Since then. India's women's captain Harmanpreet Kaur too followed Suryakumar when they faced Pakistan in the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 in Colombo last year.

What is happening between India & Bangladesh?

The strained Indo-Bangla ties stemmed from the past few months after Indian minorities were reportedly killed in the neighbouring country in recent days. It escalated in cricket when Mustafizur Rahman was removed from the Indian Premier League (IPL) following BCCI's orders.

Mustafizur, who was bought for ₹9.2 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), was released by the three-time IPL champions earlier this month. The removal of Mustafizur from IPL angered Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Bangladesh government.

As a protest, Bangladesh banned broadcast of IPL and BCB wrote a letter to International Cricket Council (ICC). In the letter to ICC, BCB requested the apex body to shift their T20 World Cup 2026 matches to a neutral venue (Sri Lanka). Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh need 239 runs to win

Sent into bat first, India rode on half-centuries from Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Abhigyan Kundu to put 238 all out on board after rain forced the match to be reduced to 49 overs. While Suryavanshi was dismissed for 72, Kundu steered the Indian team past 200 with a knock of 80.

The most successful team in the U-19 World Cup, India have started their 2026 campaign with a win over USA. A win against Bangladesh will help India put a foot forward in the Super Six stage of the mega tournament.