The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to take a dramatic U-turn after threatening to pull out from the Asia Cup 2025 over match referee Andy Pycroft’s non-removal. The PCB had warned that it would boycott the upcoming match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if the match referee, who apparently played a role in the no-handshake saga in the match against India, wasn’t immediately removed. The ICC rejected Pakistan’s request, clarifying its stance on the matter, while also giving a clean chit to Pycroft.
As the ICC decision prompted Pakistan’s potential withdrawal from the tournament, the PCB has reportedly taken a U-turn and decided to continue with the tournament. The reason behind the u-turn is a potential sanction from the ICC over withdrawal from the tournament.
“It is very unlikely that the PCB will pull out from the Asia Cup,” a PCB source told the Times of India. “If we do that, ICC led by Jay Shah will put heavy sanctions on the PCB, and this is something our board cannot afford. The financial situation post the Champions Trophy, where all the stadiums were renovated, is not good.”
With the PCB struggling financially, a long journey in the Asia Cup is quite important for the country’s crircketing ecosystem.
In its complaint to the ICC and Asian Cricket Council, the Pakistan team manager Naved Cheema had alleged that it was on Pycroft’s insistence that team sheets weren’t exchanged between the two skippers on Sunday as is the norm.
After the match that India won by seven wickets, Suryakumar and his men did not exchange handshakes with their cross-border rivals as a mark of respect for the Pahalgam terror attack victims and their families.
Pycroft is one of the senior-most match referees in ICC Elite Panel with 695 international games to his credit (men and women across three formats).
A PTI report claimed that the situation arose due to PCB’s Director of Cricket Operations Usman Walha, who didn’t apprise his own skipper about the rules and regulations that are to be followed during the tournament.
The report further said that PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the current chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), ordered the sacking of Walha on Monday for the embarrassment caused to the national cricket team and its captain.
It has been established that, Walha played a big role in a fiasco. In fact, it was Walha’s duty to inform Salman about the “No Handshake” policy but he didn’t do so and the Pakistan skipper was apparently caught unawares by the turn of events.
With PTI Inputs