‘Take it up with Asia Cup organiser. We have no role’: What ICC blatantly told PCB in a fiery six-point rebuttal

ICC’s response came after PCB wrote twice to the apex body demanding Pycroft’s removal from the match referee panel at the ongoing Asia Cup. They said that Pycroft had told Pakistan captain Salman Agha to avoid a handshake with India captain Suryakumar Yadav and told the two captains not to exchange team sheets. Pakistan even threatened a pullout in their first letter to the ICC, sent on Monday, the day after the match against India. Following a rejection, PCB held their ground and sent another mail.

Amid the stand-off between the two cricketing bodies, Pakistan players were instructed by their board to remain in the hotel and not leave for the stadium on Wednesday for their final Group A match against the UAE at the Dubai International Stadium. But the ICC maintained that Pycroft would remain part of the tournament and would be in charge of the Pakistan-UAE game.

ICC communicated to the PCB, saying that they found that Pycroft followed the rules and regulations to the ‘T’. The apex body also washed its hands off the issue and passed the responsibility back to ACC and tournament officials, saying that the decision about handshakes was made by the tournament organisers, not the ICC or the match referee. This implied that the ICC told the PCB to take up the matter with the ACC, which is also headed by Mohsin Naqvi.

Here’s ICC’s six-point rebuttal sent to PCB

1) The ICC’s investigation was conducted on the basis of the information provided in the report lodged by the PCB. We took the report at Face value and note that no supporting documentation or evidence was provided with it. The PCB had every opportunity to submit statement from its team members alongside the initial report but chose not to do so.

2) Following our investigation, we determined that there was no case to answer on the part of match referee for the Misconduct. The actions that match referee took was, following clear directions to him from ACC Venue Manager, were consistent with how a match referee will deal with such an issue, communicated as it was with no time for him to do anything else (minutes before the toss).”

3) Mr Pycroft was committed to preserving the sanctity of the toss and avoiding any potential embarrassment that might have arisen.

4) The Match Referee was not at fault in any of this.

5) It is not the role of the Match Referee to regulate ay team or tournament specific protocols which have been agreed outside of the area of play, that is a matter for the tournament organizers and relevant team managers.

6) It appears that the PCB”s real concern or complain relates to the actual decision that handshakes didn”t take place. The PCB should therefore direct those complaint to the tournament organizer and those who took the actual decision (which was not the Match Referee). The ICC doesn”t have a role in that..

PCB held a long meeting on Wednesday amid the delay to the start of the Pakistan-UAE clash, with former chairpersons Ramiz Raja and Najam Sethi, before deciding to continue their participation in the Asia Cup. It is not known what transpired in that meeting, but soon after Naqvi took to ‘X’ and announced: “We have asked the Pakistan team to depart for the Dubai Cricket Stadium. Further details to follow.” The team left the venue soon after that.