India's Kishan Singh shows sportsmanship during U19 Asia Cup match against Pakistan

DUBAI: India's left-arm seamer Kishan Singh was involved in a rare act of sportsmanship as he helped Pakistan batter Huzaifa Ahsan tie his shoelace during the blockbuster ACC Men's U19 Asia Cup 2025 match here at the ICC Academy on Sunday.

The incident occurred after the 36th over of Pakistan's innings, when Ahsan, batting at 60 not out, was struggling to tighten up his shoelace due to his gloves.

In a surprising gesture, Kishan approached Ahsan and helped him tie his shoelace, depicting sportsmanship, which has been absent since the senior men's teams' faceoff at the ACC Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025 in September.

The players of the two rival teams have not interacted with each other, barring verbal altercation and provocative gestures, since the group-stage match at the flagship continental tournament earlier this year, when India captain Suryakumar Yadav skipped a handshake with his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha at the toss.

Later, at the conclusion of the fixture, Yadav and his teammate Shivam Dube headed straight to India's dressing room without offering customary handshakes to their Pakistan counterparts, who were seen briefly waiting for the Men in Blue on the field before making their way out.

A second incident followed on September 21 during the Super Four clash and in the historic final, played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 28.

The controversy did not remain limited to the men's events as a similar situation occurred at the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, where both teams' captains, Harmanpreet Kaur and Fatima Sana, avoided shaking hands at the toss.

India stuck to the unusual norm for the ongoing Men's U19 Asia Cup 2025 as well, which saw Ayush Mhate not offer Pakistan counterpart Farhan Yousaf the customary handshake at the toss.

Pakistan captain Farhan won the toss and opted to field first before passing the microphone to his Indian rival Ayush, but the customary handshake between the two skippers remained absent.