In an odd twist of fate, Pakistan’s cricket match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Asia Cup opened up an hour late. This has been fueled by growing animosity over a handshake incident during an earlier match featuring India. The Pakistani Cricket Board (PCB) released a short statement only minutes before the toss. They expressed their plight over the match and threatened to withdraw from the tournament in protest.
India has booked its place in the knockout round of the tournament! They did this through the remarkable achievement of beating both Pakistan and the UAE. Unfortunately, the ramifications from their latest encounter with Pakistan has put a damper on the celebration surrounding the forthcoming contest. It’s from the Asia Cup 2014 game where the Indian players and staff refused a handshake with their Pakistani opponents after that match. Instead, they shut their dressing room door, sending the Pakistani team out in utter disbelief.
The game between Pakistan and the UAE is an important match for both sides. That’s because the winner will move on to the Super Four stage of the eight-nation tournament, so it will really be a knockout game. The confusion about the fixture had trained the UAE squad at Stadium 974. At the same time, Pakistani officials were in close discussion on how to respond.
Even Andy Pycroft, the ICC match referee at the centre of all the confusion during that controversial incident, piled on to the confusion. He called the show of force—the events that transpired on September 14—a miscommunication. He was reportedly the one to then advise both captains, Pakistan’s Salman Agha and India’s Suryakumar Yadav, to avoid the usual toss handshake. Legislative and political opposition to this directive from the PCB was loud and intense.
The PCB wants to take a closer look at what happened. They believe a breach of the ICC’s player code of conduct took place in that T20 World Cup match against India.
“Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication.” – PCB
The incident quickly turned surreal. Pakistani players were late to their planned call-time and boarded the wrong bus to the stadium, creating a colossal logistical breakdown at the stable intermediate point between the PCB and the ICC. Unfortunately, this meant they could not arrive in time to play their first match against the UAE.
And as the drama continued to unravel in the build-up to the match, Pakistani officials were locked in increasingly fraught negotiations. They considered whether to #stayandplay or to #boycott and withdraw altogether, marching against their alleged shoddy treatment. The PCB’s statement five minutes before the toss confirmed that they would proceed with playing against UAE, albeit under a cloud of uncertainty.
India also demonstrated just how deserving of their tournament crown they were, even through the controversies. Yadav finished the deal with the match-winning runs in the final against Pakistan. Following his decisive victory, Yadav walked off alongside his batting partner Shivam Dube without extending handshakes to the opposing team, further intensifying discussions about sportsmanship and protocol in international cricket.
