Pakistan U19 captain Farhan Yousaf won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in their Super Six match of the ICC U19 World Cup 2026 at Bulawayo on Sunday.

With a hint of moisture on the surface, Yousaf said the decision was aimed at allowing his bowling unit to make early use of the conditions. He added that there was not much difference between the pitches at Harare and Bulawayo and stressed that the team was focused on playing with positive intent rather than chasing net run-rate.

All eyes will be on 14-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who continues to be one of the tournament’s biggest talking points and will look to produce a defining knock against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Five-time champions India come into the contest on the back of a dominant campaign so far, having opened with a six-wicket win over the USA before registering convincing victories against Bangladesh and New Zealand in the group stage. The match also carries added significance for India, who will be keen to avenge their heavy defeat to Pakistan in the final of the U19 Asia Cup.

India continued their ‘no handshake’ stance against Pakistan, a policy they followed during both the group stage and final of the U19 Asia Cup in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.

India captain Ayush Mhatre said his side would have preferred to bat first but expressed confidence in the team’s form. He pointed out that improved weather conditions in the last two matches had helped the players settle after rain-affected games earlier in the tournament. India have made one change, with Deepesh Devendran coming in for Udhav Mohan.

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Teams

Pakistan U19 (Playing XI):
Hamza Zahoor (wk), Sameer Minhas, Usman Khan, Ahmed Hussain, Farhan Yousaf (c), Huzaifa Ahsan, Ali Hassan Baloch, Abdul Subhan, Momin Qamar, Mohammad Sayyam, Ali Raza

India U19 (Playing XI):
Aaron George, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ayush Mhatre (c), Vihaan Malhotra, Abhigyan Kundu (wk), Vedant Trivedi, RS Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Deepesh Devendran