An hour and a half past the scheduled starting time, after several hours of negotiations – with reports of a possible boycott swirling – the virtual knockout fixture between Pakistan and UAE finally got underway at the Dubai International Stadium.
The dramatic afternoon began with the Pakistan squad staying put at their hotel, as the International Cricket Council refused to meet the PCB’s demands of removing match referee Andy Pycroft and setting up an inquiry into the no-handshake row during the match against India on Sunday, which came “without any documents or evidence,” according to sources.
Soon, a video of Pycroft supposedly apologising to Pakistan coach Mike Hesson and captain Salman Ali Agha surfaced, even as current and former board administrators huddled in Lahore and started talks with ICC officials.
Just after the Pakistan team departed from the hotel to the ground, the PCB’s official media handle tweeted that “ICC’s controversial match referee Andy Pycroft has apologised to the Pakistan cricket team’s manager, coach and captain.”
It read: “Andy Pycroft had prohibited the captains of both teams from shaking hands during the India-Pakistan match. The PCB has strongly reacted to Pycroft’s actions. Pycroft described the incident on September 14 as a result of mis-communication and apologised. The ICC has expressed its readiness to investigate a breach of the Code of Conduct during the match on 14 September.”
According to ICC sources, after a detailed investigation, they found Pycroft not guilty “of the handshake not happening.” So he apologised only for the mis-communication. He was following clear instructions from the ACC venue manager about the handshakes. The PCB’s request for an inquiry was shot down because they did not furnish any concrete proof or document, or what exactly needed to be investigated. “The PCB has held an international tournament hostage,” the source said.
So Pycroft continued to officiate in the Pakistan-UAE match, even though there was speculation that he would swap venues with Richie Richardson, the match referee present in Abu Dhabi.
The exchanges between Pycroft, who allegedly told both captains to not shake hands, and Agha during the toss on Wednesday were rudimentary. The Pakistan skipper handed him the team sheet, which he acknowledged, and did not exchange even a glance. Agha then patted UAE captain Muhammed Waseem on his shoulder and flicked the coin. Post the toss, which UAE won and elected to field, they shook hands and walked towards the dressing room.
For some hours, though, the match was under a thick cloud of doubt. The UAE team had checked in the stadium at around 4.30 pm and begun their warm-up drills. Pakistan were nowhere to be seen, and even an hour from the standard toss time, they were not at the ground. News filtered in that they would remain at the hotel, until ICC addressed their grievances.
Rumours of them abstaining from the UAE game gathered strength. Visuals from Pakistan broadcast channels showed them sitting in the lobby, waiting for directions from the PCB.
As minutes ticked by, fans waited impatiently outside the turnstiles. Some even headed home, as the news spread on social media platforms. At one point, the UAE players also roamed uncertainly after their warm-up drills.
At the same time, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi and former chairmen Najam Sethi and Rameez Raja were locked in an intense dialogue at their headquarters in Lahore. The meeting, reportedly, was the catalyst for the eventual decision to play the game even though Pycroft remained the match referee. Naqvi told the media that a boycott had not been too far away.
“If we had to go for a boycott, which was a very big decision – the prime minister, government officials and lots of other people were also involved, and we got their full support. We were monitoring the issue,” he said. “We believe that politics and sports can’t go together. This is sports, and let it remain a sport. Cricket should be separate from all this.” Sethi followed the same line.
“The PCB’s objective has always been that there should be no politics in sport. They (India) played politics, we didn’t. We demanded an apology and they have given the apology. Cricket is the winner. The world will support our stand and you are all seeing the world’s reaction to India’s stand,” he said.
Raja said his biggest objection was to Suryakumar Yadav’s statements at the post-match presentation. During the ceremony, which Pakistan did not attend, Surya dedicated the win to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attacks and their families. He also pointed to the coincidence of Pycroft officiating a lot of India games.
“The interesting point is that whenever I do a game (as commentator and at the toss), he is a permanent fixture. It feels one-sided to me. This should not happen. This is a neutral platform. I hope better sense will prevail now,” he said. But the handshake episode and its ramifications might not have seen the final act yet.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
