Following much back and forth, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided not to drop out of the team’s last Asia Cup group stage match against the United Arab Emirates in Dubai on Wednesday.
PCB officials claim that a “middle-of-the-road” arrangement was made wherein Richie Richardson will be called up to officiate in their crucial match against UAE, replacing Andy Pycroft as match referee.
The PCB had requested that Pycroft be removed from the tournament on the grounds of breaking ICC rules and regulations after the loss on Sunday, when the Indian players refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in remembrance of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives. However, the request was denied by the game’s international governing body.
Incidentally, Waseem Khan, the PCB’s general manager and former CEO of the struggling cricket board, signed the rejection letter that the PCB got from the ICC.
After the ICC denied the PCB’s request, the day was filled with curiosity. It is understood that they ultimately managed to convince the ICC to allow Richardson to oversee the UAE game, which is a face-saver for PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the interior minister in the Shahbaz Sharif government.
According to Pakistani media, Naqvi’s earlier-than-expected discussion with Prime Minister Sharif was mostly about matters pertaining to the interior ministry and had little to do with the possibility of pulling out from the Asia Cup.
Pakistan would have actually lost almost USD 16 million if they had withdrawn from the competition, which is a substantial sum for a cricket organization that is not half as rich as the BCCI.
A press conference was originally planned for the evening before the UAE match, but it was canceled about an hour and a half before the Pakistani team arrived for training.
“They want to keep cards close to the chest and not answer any questions about boycott,” earlier in the day, a PCB insider who was aware of the happenings, told PTI.
While the Indians continued their exhausting workout, which was already in the third hour, the Pakistani players checked in amid rumors that the squad could skip the training.
The contrasting intensity of the two training sessions underscored the ever-widening gulf in standards between the cricket of India and Pakistan.
The Pakistani team trained with an archaic passing-the-football technique that was popular fifteen years ago, while the Indians conducted a full-fledged warm-up session with players like Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma performing Bronco runs under Adrian Le Roux.
Some might argue the team appeared relaxed despite India’s on-field hammering and the off-field turmoil, but the chatter around the strength and conditioning coach hinted at underlying tension — all under the watchful eyes of the Indian media.
As their nets started under head coach Mike Hesson, not a single Pakistani player wandered towards the Indian nets.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav, meanwhile, cut a cake to commemorate his 35th birthday at the request of the Indian media contingent. His birthday fell on Sunday, September 14, the day India defeated Pakistan convincingly.
