No handshakes at toss as Bangladesh send India to bat in U-19 WC opener

Bangladesh vice-captain Zawad Abrar and India captain Ayush Mhatre did not share the customary handshake at the toss, which Zawad won and opted to field first in their opening Group A match of the ICC Under-19 World Cup at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe today.

The toss got delayed by 15 minutes or so owing to a drizzle in Bulawayo. When it was finally time for it, Bangladesh’s vice-captain, in place of skipper Azizul Hakim Tamim, joined the Indian captain and the match referee to the middle.

Zawad made the right call in the coin flip, but then both players chose not to extend the arm for the handshake.

The Indian senior team had caused quite an uproar last year when it refused to shake hands with Pakistani players during last year’s Asia Cup.

Relations between Bangladesh and India also have been deteriorating on multiple fronts in recent times. Right now, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is negotiating with the ICC to relocate their matches in the ICC T20 World Cup from India, citing security risks. 

Meanwhile, despite the rain interruption, no overs were lost and the match began around 10 minutes later than the scheduled timing of 1:30pm Bangladesh time.

Bangladesh come into the match with less than ideal preparation, as both of their warm-up matches against Pakistan and Scotland had ended in no results owing to rain interruptions.

India, on the other hand, are already on the points-table with a win over the USA in their opening match.

Bangladesh Under-19(Playing XI): Rifat Beg, Zawad Abrar, Azizul Hakim Tamim (C), Kalam Siddiki Aleen, Rizan Hossan, Farid Hasan Faysal (WK), Samiun Basir Ratul, Sheikh Parvez Jibon, Al Fahad, Saad Islam Razin, Iqbal Hossain.

India Under-19 (Playing XI): Ayush Mhatre (C), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Vedant Trivedi, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhigyan Kundu (WK), Harvansh Singh, R.S. Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan A. Patel, Henil Patel, D. Deepesh.