The Men in Green have two points in two games.
The Asia Cup 2025 is making headlines for reasons, no one would have thought of. Days after the handshake saga, the Pakistan cricket team were almost on the verge of boycotting their fixture against the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The fixture is scheduled to be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The first ball, which was to be bowled at 8 PM IST, will now be pushed an hour later. This comes as a result of some unrest in the Shaheens’ camp.
Since their fixture against India, the Men in Green have been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The match referee, Andy Pycroft refrained Suryakumar Yadav from shaking hands with Salman Agha at the toss on Sunday. And that is where the debate took off. To add to that, the Indians did not shake hands with any of the Pakistani players after the game, sending the latter into a mix.
Andy Pycroft will be the match referee in Pakistan’s fixture against the UAE. And hence, it has been learnt that Pakistan was all set to boycott the game. But they started their journey to the destination an hour later instead, following some backstage talks. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would have to pay a sum of approximately $16 million, if they chose to boycott the fixture. This might be one of the reasons why they have chosen to go ahead with the match.
ALSO READ:
A lot, to be honest! It was all fine until the toss happened on Sunday. The only highlight was that Suryakumar Yadav did not shake hands with the Pakistani skipper Salman Agha. And this is where the snowballing-effect originated from. Though the entire match went well without any controversies between players, the end was again where matters flared. The Indian team went to their dressing room, and closed to door. This got the Pakistanis riled up.
The Shaheens filed an official complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) against match referee Pycroft, accusing him of misconduct. However, the ICC ruled out the possibility of any such thing and cleared Pycroft of any wrongdoing. But the Men in Green did not budge. They threatened to pull out of the tournament if action was not taken against the match referee. But their request was not met.
And hence, the 2022 T20 World Cup finalists considered boycotting their match against the UAE. However, after talks with their cricket board, the team got a clearance to go ahead with the fixture. This will go down as one of the most remembered controversies in the history of the Asia Cup.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a statement stating that match referee Pycroft has apologized to the team’s manager and captain Salman Agha for his actions on September 14. To add to that, the board also mentioned that Pycroft admitted to the decision of preventing the handshake as ‘miscommunication.’ The cricket board took to its X (formerly Twitter) handle to give the new update.
Earlier in the evening, the Pakistan players were stopped from boarding onto the team bus to head to the stadium, even after their bags had been loaded. Moreover, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) deleted its posters for the match, leading to speculations of a potential boycott.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
