Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson will take over as the match referee for Pakistan’s important Asia Cup game against the UAE. This is a big win for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). An official from the PCB told media that this revelation comes after a protracted stalemate with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The fight started because of Pakistan’s high-profile match versus India on Sunday, which India won. The fight swiftly got out of hand off the field. After the game, the Indian team refused to shake hands with the Pakistani squad. Instead, they paid tribute to the victims of the Pahalgam terror assault that sadly killed 26 people.
The PCB officially asked that Pycroft not be allowed to officiate any of Pakistan’s remaining matches in the tournament because they were unhappy with certain of his judgments and actions during the game. In its protest, the board pointed out several times that ICC rules and regulations had been broken. The world governing body first turned down the protest. The response was written by ICC General Manager Waseem Khan, who had been the PCB’s CEO before, which made the behind-the-scenes situation even more complicated.
After a day of secret talks and a lot of guessing, PCB sources said that a “middle-of-the-road” answer had been found. People consider the decision to have Richardson oversee the game against the UAE as a win for PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s interior minister and has a lot of authority. Even though officials said it had nothing to do with cricket, Naqvi was said to have met with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif earlier that day.
The PCB couldn’t afford to risk pulling out of the event since it would have cost them about $16 million in revenue, which is a lot more than what a stronger board like the BCCI could handle.
The team’s preparations were also hampered by the day’s uncertainty. A press conference before the match was supposed to happen before Pakistan’s training session, however it was called off suddenly just 90 minutes before the players were supposed to show up. There were whispers that the team might not show up for training, but they did, even though they were very relaxed.
The Indian squad, on the other hand, was still riding high after their big win and finished a tough three-hour training session with their strength and conditioning coach, Adrian Le Roux. Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, for example, were observed doing tough Bronco runs, which shows that they are serious about meeting high-intensity fitness standards.
People were surprised by Pakistan’s training session, though. Players were doing an old football passing routine instead of current, high-intensity drills. This was a warm-up practice that hasn’t been used in elite cricket circles for more than ten years. Even though the mood seemed cheerful, many close to the squad said that the smiles and laughter hid a lot of anxiety that came from both their problems on the field and the problems off the field.
There was an obvious separation throughout the practice. No Pakistani player went near the Indian nets, as head coach Mike Hesson oversaw another round of intense exercises. The fact that the two squads were physically apart seemed to be a quiet sign of the continued political and cricketing tensions.
In the meantime, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav joyously cut a birthday cake for the media. Indian journalists asked for the party, which was a late tribute to his 35th birthday, which occurred on September 14, the same day India won.