The International Cricket Council (ICC) has reportedly selected Andy Pycroft to serve as a match referee in the next high-stakes game between India and Pakistan for the ongoing Asia Cup 2025. Pycroft will serve as the match official on Sunday, despite the Pakistan Cricket Board’s displeasure, which falsely accused him of violating the spirit of cricket by asking Suryakumar Yadav and Agha Salman not to shake hands at the toss or after the match in the previous clash on September 14 in Dubai.
Pycroft, a long-time member of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Officials, received a clean chit from the world cricketing organisation after the PCB stated that he had apologised for his actions.
However, the ICC stated that Pycroft offered no such apology, effectively quashing the remarks made and even ruling the Pakistani cricketing organisation by taking the case into their own hands. After a couple of days of fruitless discussions, the PCB could only postpone their game against the UAE by an hour from the scheduled start time.
According to reports, the game will go forward as planned now that the ICC, PCB, and Asian Cricket Council have all resolved their differences.
Andy Pycroft has been nominated as the match referee.
The match will be hosted in the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the same location where the entire handshakegate incident occurred, which resulted in Pakistani captain Agha Salman purposefully skipping the post-match presentation. Both teams will be playing their first Super Fours encounter after qualifying through the group round games.
How India and Pakistan qualified?
Notably, the Indians will be coming into the contest undefeated, with their latest win being against Oman. They beat the Jatinder Singh-led side by 21 runs in Abu Dhabi. India were also the only team from the Group A to enter the Super Fours without losing a single match. Earlier in the continental competition, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side played in Dubai, beating the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan by comprehensive margins.
Pakistan, on the other hand, qualified after beating the United Arab Emirates and Oman, while suffering a massive loss at the hands of the Men in Blue. They will be hoping to not face yet another defeat and extend their poor record in T20I cricket against their neighbouring nation. Agha Salman will have to plan his best to not let the Indians cut loose on Sunday, but a power-packed opposition will pose a great challenge for them.
India
