After a lot of back and forth, PCB has decided not to withdraw and will play their last Asia Cup group game against UAE tomorrow. According to sources inside the PCB, they have reached a compromise: Andy Pycroft won’t be the match referee for Pakistan’s games. Instead, Richie Richardson will be the referee for their must win game.
This all happened after Sunday’s loss where Indian players didn’t shake hands with Pakistani players to show respect for the Pahalgam terror attack victims who lost 26 lives. PCB then wanted Pycroft removed from the tournament saying it was against ICC rules but ICC didn’t allow it.
Interestingly, the rejection letter from ICC to PCB was signed by Waseem Khan who used to be the CEO of PCB.
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The day was quite dramatic after ICC turned down PCB’s request. Eventually they managed to convince ICC to let Richardson be the referee for the UAE game. This is kind of a win for PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi who is also the interior minister in Shahbaz Sharif’s government.
Some Pakistani news outlets said that Naqvi’s meeting with PM Sharif earlier in the day was mostly about interior ministry matters and had nothing to do with Asia Cup withdrawal threat.
If Pakistan had withdrawn from the tournament they would have lost around USD 16 million which is a lot of money for a cricket board that isn’t as rich as BCCI.
Earlier a press conference was planned for the evening before UAE game but was cancelled about an hour and a half before the Pakistan team was supposed to arrive for practice.
A PCB insider said earlier they want to keep things secret and not answer any questions about boycott.
Although there were rumors that the team might not turn up for practice, the players showed up. Meanwhile the Indian team was having a tough practice session that had already been going on for three hours.
The difference in the intensity of the two training sessions showed how much the standards are diverging. The Indians had a full warm up with players like Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma doing Bronco runs with Adrian Le Roux. The Pakistan team’s training was a simple football passing drill which was popular 15 years ago. You could say the Pakistan team is relaxed despite losing badly to India and the off field issues. But the chatter and jokes with the strength and conditioning coach suggested there was some hidden tension especially as the Indian media was watching.
None of the Pakistani players went to the Indian side to watch their practice. The Pakistani team started their net practice with head coach Mike Hesson.
Meanwhile Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav cut a cake to celebrate his 35th birthday which was a bit late. His birthday was on Sunday (September 14) when India won against Pakistan.
