The ICC is considering action against Pakistan for “multiple tournament rule violations” after their Asia Cup match against the UAE was delayed in protest against the world body’s refusal to remove referee Andy Pycroft.
Prior to the match on Wednesday, the ICC sent an email to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) claiming “misconduct” and “multiple violations” of the Players and Match Officials Area (PMOA) regulations.
“The ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta has written to the PCB stating that the board has been guilty of repeated PMOA violations on match day. PCB is in receipt of the e-mail,” a tournament source said.
Pakistan allegedly broke the regulations by permitting media manager Naeem Gillani to record a discussion between Pycroft, its head coach Mike Hesson, and captain Salman Ali Agha prior to the toss, in spite of multiple warnings.
Media managers had been explicitly prohibited from attending such discussions by the ICC.
When Pycroft was blamed for the ‘no handshake’ incident during the play against India, the team first refused to leave its hotel, which resulted in an hour-long delay for Wednesday’s match.
According to the PCB, Pycroft forbade Salman from shaking hands with his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav during Sunday’s toss. SKY made it apparent that the ban was a show of support for the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.
In order to help settle the issue surrounding the India match, ICC and PCB agreed that Pycroft will meet with the manager and captain of the squad before their match.
“The purpose was to eradicate any regrettable misunderstanding or miscommunication which may have arisen at the time of the toss (of the India match),” the tournament source said.
“PCB brought to the meeting their media manager and insisted that he be present during the conversation,” he added.
The ICC Anti-Corruption Manager denied Naeem admission on the grounds that “he wanted to take his mobile phone into the PMOA.”
According to the source, the PCB threatened to “withdraw” from the match if the media manager was not permitted to attend and then insisted on filming the conversation (without audio), which was a “further violation of the PMOA regulations.”
“The ICC, in order to preserve the interest of the sport, the tournament and the stakeholders involved accepted PCB’s asks although this demonstrated a complete disregard for the sanctity of the PMOA, where the meeting took place,” the source said.
Additionally, the PCB’s intended use of the recorded material was not disclosed to the ICC. Many theories about what might have been spoken at the meeting have been sparked by the small video that has been making the rounds on social media.
A PCB media release that stated Pycroft had “apologised” when, in reality, he had only expressed regret over a misunderstanding has also drawn criticism from the international organization.
At a later meeting held inside the PMOA, where filming is absolutely forbidden, PCB media manager Naeem was denied entry.
