The Pakistan team said they would boycott their match against the United Arab Emirates in the Asia Cup 2025. They wanted Andy Pycroft not to be the match referee for their games in the Asia Cup after the handshake controversy in the India-Pakistan game that happened on 14th September in Dubai. Finally, their appeal has a green light. Now, Andy Pycroft will be removed as the match referee from all Pakistan Matches in the Asia Cup 2025.
Basically, the reason Pakistan’s management thought was that he was responsible for the match should be played as per the ICC Code of Conduct rules, which India did not follow. The match referee should be responsible for that in their eyes. Richie Richardson will now be the match referee in the Pakistan vs UAE match. The match is on 17th September at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium
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Andy Pycroft Removed from All Pakistan Matches in Asia Cup 2025
The India-Pakistan match is also one of the fieriest matches in cricket, both on and off the field. Dubai was the venue for this match, and 14th September was the date. Batting first, the Pakistan team scored 127/9 in their 20 overs.
Abhishek Sharma started the Indian batting innings with a first-ball six and created history. He became the first player to hit a six on the first ball in the T20 format. India easily chased the target as they scored 131/3 in 15.5 overs.
As soon as Suryakumar Yadav hit the winning runs, Indian batters straight away went to the dressing room without shaking hands with the Pakistani players. They even closed the doors of their dressing room. Pakistani players were waiting and did not appreciate this move from the Indian team. They did this because of the geographical tensions between the two nations.
This made the Pakistan Board put a request for the removal of the match referee Andy Pycroft, or they would boycott the next match, as he should be responsible for the game to end in a fair manner. Eventually, their appeal was accepted. If Pakistan did not show in their next match, the board would suffer a loss of around $12 million to $16 million.
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