Mumbai: After a lengthy drama, that ran through most of Wednesday, played out within the corridors of power in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on their team’s further participation in the Asia Cup, the first ball in Pakistan’s must-win Group A tie against UAE in Dubai was finally bowled at 9 PM (IST) an hour after the scheduled start time.
The pre-match toss was overseen by Zimbabwean match referee Andy Pycroft, who the PCB wanted out as a precondition to play the match. The International Cricket Council (ICC) stood by its official.
The controversy goes back to last Sunday’s India-Pakistan faceoff where the PCB effectively accused Pycroft of being biased towards India. Their contention being that the ICC official asked Pakistan captain Salman Agha not to shake hands with Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav at the toss at India’s behest. The Indian team had decided to play against Pakistan with a businesslike attitude, and did not engage in handshakes with their opponents before and after the match.
The PCB wrote to the ICC demanding Pycroft’s immediate removal, accusing him of “violating MCC laws pertaining to the Spirit of Cricket”. After the ICC rejected the demand, the PCB bargained for Pycroft not to officiate in their match with UAE, to begin with, through another letter dispatched on match day.
ICC refused to budge. “It would have set a wrong precedent. Besides, the suggestion that the referee violated any Code of Conduct law is unfounded,” a source in the ICC said.
The PCB issued a statement before the match where they claimed that Pycroft had apologized and that the ICC had agreed for a further enquiry. “Andy Pycroft had barred the captains of India and Pakistan from shaking hands during their match. The Pakistan Cricket Board had strongly reacted to Andy Pycroft’s actions. Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication and apologised. The ICC has expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match,” the PCB statement said.
The ICC did not offer any official comment. But officials have confirmed Pycroft’s apology was restricted to “miscommunication”, if any. There is no information on the nature of a further enquiry.
Action against Pycroft unlikely
It is understood, the ICC has already absolved Pycroft of any wrongdoing pertaining to the laws. They have communicated to the PCB, how the match referee’s only duty was “to maintain the sanctity of the toss”. The Pakistan board was reminded how they provided “no supporting documents” to back their complaint. Also, that it wasn’t Pycroft’s duty to regulate matters outside play – read, no handshakes after match.
Indian cricket board officials believe PCB has dragged Pycroft in to set up a showdown with the ICC, headed by an Indian, to cater to their domestic audience. Naqvi is also the Interior Minister in the Pakistan government.
The third hat Naqvi wears is that of being the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman. It is here that Naqvi may have backtracked from his aggressive stance he had adopted all through the day of not playing the match and effectively walking out of the tournament. The PCB stands to lose in the range of US$ 15 million, their share of ACC media rights proceeds from the tournament.
Evening drama
On Wednesday evening, Pakistan’s team bus was loaded with kit bags with players ready to depart for the Dubai International stadium ahead of the scheduled 8pm start. Soon, they were asked to stay back at their city hotel, even as Naqvi met with former PCB Chairpersons Rameez Raja and Najam Sethi as well as former head coach Aaquib Javed for a way forward.
Following their discussions, Naqvi directed his team to leave for the stadium and negotiated a delayed match start with the tournament council.
The chaos seemed to throw the Pakistan team off as well and they struggled for most part before a late 14-ball 29 by Shaheen Afridi helped them reach 146/9 at the end of 20 overs.
