The uncertainty surrounding Pakistan’s participation in the remainder of the 2025 Asia Cup persists, despite the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) firm demand that Andy Pycroft be removed off the match referee list.
Following a second letter from the Pakistan board, the International Cricket Council (ICC), which had earlier rejected the petition, is apparently considering it again. The ICC stated that such removal would set an improper precedent, especially as there is no genuine ground to do so.
The highly contested no-handshake dispute between India and Pakistan after their group-stage match in the eight-team competition on September 14 in Dubai is the source of the PCB demand.
After the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) intervened, it was thought that a compromise had been struck; but, with just hours remaining before the Pakistan-UAE match, a virtual elimination, things appear to have gone the other way once more.
According to a Cricbuzz article, the ICC and PCB’s ECB-mediated negotiations came to an end when it was suggested that Richie Richardson would officiate the Pakistan-UAE match in place of Pycroft, who will continue to serve on the tournament’s panel of match officials.
“Under the discussed arrangement, Pycroft would have continued in the tournament, but he would have been taken off the roster for Wednesday’s game between Pakistan and the UAE. Richie Richardson, the other ICC referee on the panel, was suggested as a replacement for that match. It is not yet known whether this arrangement has been accepted,” the report states.
The mediation involving ECB officials was prompted by Pakistan’s decision to withdraw from the tournament if Pycroft was not removed. Pycroft’s insistence that the captains not shake hands at the toss was a clear infringement of the ICC Code of Conduct and the MCC Laws pertaining to the Spirit of Cricket, according to the PCB, through its chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the current president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
“The PCB has lodged a complaint with the ICC regarding violations by the Match Referee of the ICC Code of Conduct and the MCC Laws pertaining to the Spirit of Cricket. The PCB has demanded an immediate removal of the Match Referee from the Asia Cup,” Naqvi, who is the chairman of the PCB, had said in a social media post on Monday.
ICC Rejects PCB Request to Expel Pycroft; Handshakes Not Mandatory
Although the toss and post-match shake is an old tradition, it is not mandatory as indicated in the MCC Spirit of Cricket manual which states that the players should respect each other and in the end of the game should be thankful to the officials and opposition. But even the handshakes are just a suggestion that is not a legal requirement.
In light of this, the ICC had denied the PCB’s request that Pycroft be expelled. As time is running short, unanimity is still difficult.
