DUBAI: Pakistan cancelled its pre-match conference on Saturday ahead of its Asia Cup Super-Four match against India in Dubai, after it was learnt that match referee Andy Pycroft will officiate the contest between the archrivals.
The press conference was scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. local time, and the Pakistan team was to train at the ICC Academy between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
This is the second consecutive time Pakistan has cancelled its pre-match press conference, after it called off the formality on the eve of its must-win match against 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 in the tournament.
Pycroft was in the eye of a storm after he asked the captains, Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha, not to shake hands at the toss ahead of their September 14 clash.
The situation came to a head after the Indian players refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts following India’s seven-wicket win.
Following the incident, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wrote to the International Cricket Council (ICC) demanding the removal of Pycroft as match referee from the Asia Cup roster.
However, the ICC refused to budge, after which Pakistan threatened to pull out of its match against the UAE on Wednesday. It first cancelled its customary pre-match conference, fuelling speculations of a boycott, and left the team hotel just an hour ahead of the scheduled start of the match, leading to an hour’s delay in proceedings.
Despite Pakistan’s antics, Pycroft stayed on as the match referee for the game against the UAE, though the PCB claimed the 69-year-old Zimbabwean had ‘apologised’ for asking Agha not to shake hands with Suryakumar and that the ICC had agreed to investigate the matter.
However, it was later reported that Pycroft had only apologised to the PCB for the ‘miscommunication’ and not the incident itself, as he was ‘only passing on the message of the Asian Cricket Council’s venue manager to the captains of India and Pakistan at the toss’.
The Super-Four stage of the continental showdown begins on Saturday, with Sri Lanka taking on Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India and Pakistan lock horns on Sunday in the subsequent game.
After a round-robin Super Four phase, which comprises six matches, the top two teams will face off on September 28 in the final.
The historically tense relations between India and Pakistan were recently exacerbated after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April this year killed 26 people. The Indian government linked the atrocity to Pakistan-backed terrorists and launched retaliatory strikes, code-named Operation Sindoor, aimed at destroying terrorist hideouts across the border.
The hostilities between the countries led to fervent calls from some sections of the Indian public to boycott the match against Pakistan and pull out of the Asia Cup. Agencies
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