Pakistan agrees to have Andy Pycroft as a cricket match referee after he apologises for his role in a handshake row against India.
Pakistan’s cricket match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Asia Cup was delayed by an hour amid uncertainty about the fixture as Pakistani officials deliberated pulling out of the tournament as a mark of protest.
The match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium began at 7:30pm local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) reached an agreement on Andy Pycroft’s assignment as match referee following his role in the “no handshake” row involving India three days earlier.
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“The ICC’s match referee, Andy Pycroft, has apologised to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team,” the PCB said in a statement released minutes before the toss for the Pakistan-UAE fixture.
“Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication.”
The PCB also said that the ICC “expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match”, referring to Pycroft’s request to Pakistan and India captains to avoid the customary handshake at the toss, which the PCB alleges contravened the laws of the game.
Pycroft was the key match official in the crucial and politically charged match between the South Asian archrivals on Sunday, and had allegedly asked Pakistan’s captain Salman Agha and his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav to not partake in the customary captains’ handshake at the toss.
Later, once Yadav hit the winning runs for India, he walked off the field along with his batting partner Shivam Dube without shaking the opposition’s hands – a tradition in cricket – in a move that went uncontested by the match officials.
Additionally, the Indian players and staff did not shake hands with the Pakistani contingent and instead shut the door of their dressing room as the Pakistanis looked on.
The move, and Pycroft’s decision not to reprimand the Indian team, infuriated the PCB, which lodged an immediate complaint with the tournament’s organisers.
The PCB also wrote to the ICC on Monday, asking for Pycroft’s removal as match referee for all of Pakistan’s remaining fixtures due to his “failure to discharge his duties”, according to a PCB official who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity.
The deadlock, resulting from the ICC’s apparent refusal to remove Pycroft, lasted up until an hour prior to the official match start time.
Later, as Pycroft conducted the toss in Dubai, the PCB released a video of a meeting where ICC General Manager of Cricket Wasim Khan is seen mediating a settlement between Pycroft and the Pakistan team – represented by manager Naveed Akram Cheema, captain Agha, and head coach Mike Hesson.
Hours earlier, the match’s fate was left in limbo as the Pakistani squad did not board the bus for the venue at its scheduled departure time, indicating a logistical logjam between the PCB and the ICC.
However, once both parties had reached an agreement, the team departed for the stadium. But the fate of the match became certain five minutes before the toss with the PCB’s statement.
Meanwhile, the UAE squad awaited Pakistan’s arrival at the stadium under a cloud of uncertainty.
The Group A fixture acts as a knockout game for both teams, with the winner progressing to the Super Four stage of the eight-nation tournament.
India have already qualified for the next stage on the back of their wins against the UAE and Pakistan.
