Pakistan has cancelled its pre-match convention on Saturday forward of its Asia Cup Tremendous-4 match towards India in Dubai, after it was learnt that match referee Andy Pycroft will officiate the competition between the archrivals.
The press convention was scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. native time, and the Pakistan crew was to coach on the ICC Academy between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
That is the second consecutive time Pakistan has cancelled its pre-match press convention, after it referred to as off the formality on the eve of its must-win match towards the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday.
The cancellations of routine pre-match duties come amidst the handshake controversy that rocked the group-stage match between India and Pakistan earlier within the match.
Pycroft was within the eye of a storm after he requested the captains, Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha, to not shake fingers on the toss forward of their September 14 conflict.
The state of affairs got here to a head after the Indian gamers refused to shake fingers with their Pakistani counterparts following India’s seven-wicket win.
Following the incident, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wrote to the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) demanding the removing of Pycroft as match referee from the Asia Cup roster.
Nonetheless, the ICC refused to budge, after which Pakistan threatened to drag out of its match towards the UAE on Wednesday. It first cancelled its customary pre-match convention, fuelling speculations of a boycott, and left the crew resort simply an hour forward of the scheduled begin of the match, resulting in an hour’s delay in proceedings.
Regardless of Pakistan’s antics, Pycroft stayed on because the match referee for the sport towards the UAE, although the PCB claimed the 69-year-old Zimbabwean had ‘apologised’ for asking Agha to not shake fingers with Suryakumar and that the ICC had agreed to research the matter.
Nonetheless, it was later reported that Pycroft had solely apologised to the PCB for the ‘miscommunication’ and never the incident itself, as he was ‘solely passing on the message of the Asian Cricket Council’s venue supervisor to the captains of India and Pakistan on the toss’.
The Tremendous-4 stage of the continental showdown begins on Saturday, with Sri Lanka taking over Bangladesh on the Dubai Worldwide Cricket Stadium. India and Pakistan lock horns on Sunday within the subsequent sport.
After a round-robin Tremendous 4 section, which contains six matches, the highest two groups will face off on September 28 within the remaining.
The traditionally tense relations between India and Pakistan have been lately exacerbated after a terrorist assault in Pahalgam in April this 12 months killed 26 individuals. The Indian authorities linked the atrocity to Pakistan-backed terrorists and launched retaliatory strikes, code-named Operation Sindoor, aimed toward destroying terrorist hideouts throughout the border.
The hostilities between the international locations led to fervent calls from some sections of the Indian public to boycott the match towards Pakistan and pull out of the Asia Cup.
Revealed on Sep 20, 2025