By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Pakistan’s cricket board has filed a formal complaint with the International Cricket Council against the match referee for Sunday’s Asia Cup clash with India, accusing him of breaching rules on the “Spirit of Cricket” by allegedly instructing the teams not to exchange handshakes.
The move escalates tensions from the high-stakes encounter in Dubai, where India chased down a modest Pakistan total of 128 to secure a seven-wicket victory in 15.5 overs, propelled by a spin attack led by Kuldeep Yadav. It marked the first on-field meeting between the nuclear-armed neighbours since a brief military flare-up in May, triggered by a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir.
PCB Chairperson Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Asian Cricket Council, announced the complaint on the social media platform X. “The PCB has lodged a complaint with the ICC regarding violations by the Match Referee of the ICC Code of Conduct and the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) Laws pertaining to the Spirit of Cricket,” Naqvi wrote, naming referee Andy Pycroft. “The PCB has demanded an immediate removal of the match referee from the Asia Cup.”
Pycroft, a former Zimbabwe international, was listed in an Asian Cricket Council press release to officiate Wednesday’s Pakistan-UAE group match in Sharjah.
The controversy erupted after India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav struck the winning runs off Salman Ali Agha, celebrating with teammate Shivam Dube before heading directly to the dressing room. While Indian players exchanged congratulations in their dugout, they made no move to acknowledge their Pakistani counterparts, who had lined up for the traditional post-match handshake.
Pakistan’s players waited in vain as the Indians retreated, closing the dressing room doors behind them. Head coach Mike Hesson later confirmed his side had anticipated the gesture. “It was a follow-on effect of the fact that we were obviously keen to engage and shake hands at the end of the match, but that obviously didn’t happen,” Hesson told reporters.
In a show of protest, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha skipped the post-match presentation ceremony, where captains typically trade thoughts on the game. Hesson described the Indian conduct as “disappointing.”
Pakistan team manager Naveed Akram Cheema lodged an on-site protest with Pycroft immediately after the match, the PCB said in a statement. “The team manager, Naveed Cheema, lodged a protest with match referee Andy Pycroft after the match…The behaviour of Indian players was against the spirit of sportsmanship. That is why skipper Agha was not sent to the post-match ceremony.”
The PCB statement quoted Cheema as saying: “It was against the sportsman spirit that the Indian team did not shake hands.” It further alleged that “the match referee had asked the captains not to shake hands at the time of the toss” – a claim echoed by the absence of a pre-match exchange between Yadav and Agha.
Suryakumar defended the decision in the post-match press conference, framing it as a directive from higher authorities. “We are aligned with the government and Board of Control for Cricket in India,” he said, after an unbeaten knock of 47.
In the presentation, the Indian captain downplayed the fixture’s billing as a blockbuster. He described the match against Pakistan as “just another game” and dedicated the triumph to the nation’s military. “We stand with the victims of the families of the Pahalgam terror attack, and we express our solidarity,” Suryakumar said. “We want to dedicate today’s win to the armed forces.”
The April 22 assault in the resort town of Pahalgam killed several civilians and sparked cross-border hostilities the following month. New Delhi blamed the attack on militants backed by Islamabad, an allegation Pakistan has firmly rejected for lack of evidence.
Naqvi, in an earlier X post, decried the episode as a politicisation of the sport. “Utterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship today. Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports. Let’s hope future victories are celebrated by all teams with grace,” he wrote.
The fixture had been under a cloud even before the first ball, with voices in India urging a boycott amid lingering animosities. The Board of Control for Cricket in India cited the multi-nation format as a bar to such action. “The Indian cricket board had said it could not boycott an international event and that such a move would bring a lot of negativity for all our future endeavours of hosting any multinational tournament,” the BCCI said in a prior statement.
New Delhi’s clearance for the game came via a freshly unveiled sports policy, which permits the national team to face Pakistan only in ICC or continental tournaments – not in standalone series. The last such bilateral engagement dates to 2012, when Pakistan toured India for one-day and Twenty20 internationals.
Suryakumar later elaborated on the handshake standoff in remarks to media. “Some things are above sportsmanship. Is it really sportsmanship if you don’t even shake hands with the opposing team? That was our answer,” he said.
The incident underscores the fragile truce in cricket ties between the arch-rivals, where geopolitics often overshadows play. With the Asia Cup’s Super Four stage looming, the ICC has yet to respond to the PCB’s grievance.
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