{"id":152113,"date":"2025-09-18T13:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/152113\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T13:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:04:08","slug":"pcb-chief-mohsin-naqvi-breaks-silence-on-boycott-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/152113\/","title":{"rendered":"PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi breaks silence on boycott call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dubai: The Asia Cup 2025<\/a> was hit by controversy on Wednesday when Pakistan<\/a> briefly threatened to pull out of the tournament ahead of their match against the UAE<\/a>. The team stayed back at their hotel past the scheduled departure time, fuelling speculation that they might boycott the event altogether.<\/p>\n

The row stems from the September 14 incident, when Indian<\/a> players, led by Suryakumar Yadav, did not shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts after the game. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) viewed the snub as deeply disrespectful and accused match referee Andy Pycroft of mishandling the situation.<\/p>\n

PCB\u2019s protest and ICC pushback<\/p>\n

The PCB lodged a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC), even demanding Pycroft\u2019s removal from Asia Cup duties. However, the ICC firmly rejected the claims in a detailed six-point response, calling the PCB\u2019s complaints \u201cbaseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the protest, Pycroft remained as match referee for Pakistan\u2019s next game against the UAE, further fuelling tensions.<\/p>\n

Naqvi explains decision not to boycott<\/p>\n

PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Asian Cricket Council, later explained why the team decided against walking out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you all know, there has been a crisis since September 14. We had objections about the role of the match referee. Just a short while ago, the referee spoke to the coach, captain and manager, admitting the incident (no handshakes) should not have happened,\u201d Naqvi told media.<\/p>\n

He stressed that boycotting would have been a \u201cvery big decision\u201d involving the prime minister and government officials, all of whom had expressed support if Pakistan chose that route.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe politics and sports cannot go together. Cricket should remain a sport. That is why we monitored the issue closely before deciding not to withdraw,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

ICC defends referee Pycroft<\/p>\n

The ICC stood by Pycroft, stating he acted correctly under the circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actions the match referee took, following clear directions from the ACC Venue Manager, were consistent with how such issues should be handled,\u201d the ICC wrote in its response to the PCB.<\/p>\n

The world body pointed out that the PCB had not submitted any supporting statements or evidence with its complaint, despite being given the chance.<\/p>\n

The ICC further clarified that the referee\u2019s priority was to protect the integrity of the toss and avoid unnecessary embarrassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the role of the Match Referee to regulate team or tournament-specific protocols agreed outside the field of play. That falls under the organisers and team managers,\u201d the ICC said.<\/p>\n

ICC questions PCB\u2019s real grievance<\/p>\n

In its closing remarks, the ICC suggested the PCB may have directed its frustration at the wrong target.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PCB should therefore direct those complaints to the tournament organisers and those who made the actual decision (which was not the Match Referee). The ICC does not have a role in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Balaram<\/a><\/p>\n

Balaram brings more than two decades of experience in the media industry, combining sharp editorial judgment with a deep understanding of digital news dynamics. <\/p>\n

Since 2004, he has been a core member of the gulfnews.com digital team, playing a key role in shaping its identity. <\/p>\n

Passionate about current affairs, politics, cricket, entertainment, and viral content, Balaram thrives on stories that spark conversation. His strength lies in adapting to the fast-changing news landscape and curating compelling content that resonates with readers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dubai: The Asia Cup 2025 was hit by controversy on Wednesday when Pakistan briefly threatened to pull out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[21425,64,63,740,5951,1209,15299,85,21542],"class_list":["post-152113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-asia-cup","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-dubai","tag-india","tag-pakistan","tag-sports","tag-uae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}