New Delhi: The growing diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh scattered onto the cricketing field on Saturday as captains of the under-19 sides
avoided handshakes during a Group A World Cup clash. Much like the cricketing relations India shares with Pakistan, the India-Bangladesh ties have also been hit hard recently.
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Ayush Mhatre and Bangladesh’s deputy Zawad Abrar avoided the traditional pre-match ritual during the toss that became the talking point of the World Cup fixture at Bulawayo. To everyone’s surprise, it was vice-captain Abrar, who came out for the toss instead of regular Bangladesh skipper Azizul Hakim, who was named in the playing XI though. After a slight delay which was affected due to rain, Bangladesh put India to bat first in the encounter.
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Toss news 🗞️#TeamIndia will bat first in their second group game 🆚 Bangladesh!️#ICCMensU19WC | #INDvBAN 👉 LIVE NOW ➡️ https://t.co/DGP23ftABG pic.twitter.com/5hZ9PFHbFL
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) January 17, 2026
While the avoiding of the customary handshakes drew all the attention of fans across the world, this followed the precedent which was set during the 2025 Asia Cup clash and the women’s World Cup when the Indian team captains refused to shake hands with the Pakistan teams amid political differences between the two countries.
While many though that the resistance was just limited to Pakistan but now it has extended to Bangladesh as well after relation spoiled between the two neighbouring nations. Amid the killing of Indian minorities in Bangladesh, the BCCI directed IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to remove Bangladesh player Mustafizur Rahman from the league.
After he was removed from IPL 2026 by KKR, disruptions started between India and Bangladesh with the latter refusing to travel to India for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 citing security concerns. The ICC has been playing its role of trying to convince Bangladesh to participate in the showpiece event as it will not be possible to move the fixtures to Sri Lanka as desired by the BCB.
