The Under-19 team of Pakistan won the Asia Cup after 13 years of waiting as it defeated India in the final of the Under-19 Asia Cup 2025 by a margin of 191 runs. The decisive victory set off a series of celebrations in Pakistan but the result of the match has soon turned the attention of people towards the victories of the game over to controversy.
It was a high stakes final, with a number of hot moments happening on the field. Indian batters Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre engaged in verbal battles with Pakistani players and made the match an emotionally charged affair. The case was heightened by the fact that Pakistani bowler Ali Raza sacked 14-year-old Suryavanshi and mishandled him by swearing abusive words when celebrating his victory. The young Indian batter remained silent no longer, and replied by a sharp gesture, which indicated his indignation at the behavior of the bowler.
Pakistan Cricket Board has now taken the on-field confrontations seriously. Former Pakistan captain and present mentor of the Under-19 cricket team Sarfaraz Ahmed publicly condemned the behaviour of India in its finals saying that it was against the spirit of the game. Sarfaraz took the move by the Indian players not to accept the post-match winning runner-up medals awarded by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi especially ill.
After these comments Mohsin Naqvi himself gave a very strong warning. The PCB chairman, who was addressing a reception held in honour of the winning Under-19 team by the Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif, said that the board would officially complain to the ICC about the actions of Indian players in the final.
In an interview with the press, Naqvi said that Indian footballers provoked the children of Pakistan on a number of occasions throughout the game, and that they should not allow such behaviour in the future. He stated that Pakistan would also be filing an official complaint to the ICC and he also pointed out that the game should not be interfered by politics.
This is not the first time Indo-Pak fights have got disciplinary focus. In the case of the senior men Asia cup 2025, players on both teams such as Haris Rauf and Suryakumar Yadav were caught violating the ICC Code of Conduct and were consequently chastised.
With the dust still settling on the massive victorious Under-19 Asia Cup win by Pakistan, the cricketing world now eagerly waits to see what the ICC will do concerning the latest scandal, a scandal that has again shown just how easy it is to cross the boundary rope in the high pressure India-Pakistan encounters.
