Handshake row: Partial win for PCB? ICC agrees to replace Pycroft with Richardson

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has withdrawn its pullout threat after the International Cricket Council (ICC) partially agreed to its demands and replaced match referee Andy Pycroft with Richie Richardson in their future matches.

Pakistan will take on the UAE in their last Asia Cup group league game on Wednesday.

Pakistan had threatened to boycott the rest of the tournament if their demand to remove Pycroft was not met after the ‘handshake’ controversy. The PCB accused  Pycroft of telling its captain, Salman Ali Agha, not to shake hands with his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav at the time of the toss in their match on Sunday in Dubai.

ICC rejected the request, saying it was the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) officials on the ground who informed Pycroft about the no-handshake policy at the toss. However, in the subsequent negotiations, a "middle-of-the-road" agreement was reached under which Pycroft will not be officiating matches involving Pakistan.

The ICC decision came as a face-saver for PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the interior minister in the Shahbaz Sharif government.

Indian players chose not to shake hands with their Pakistan counterparts during Sunday’s match, which was played amid raging boycott calls in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Earlier, the Pakistan team decided to cancel a scheduled pre-match press conference ahead of their match against the UAE on Tuesday. 

The decision was taken to "avoid" questions on the widely reported threat of a pullout, PTI news agency reported, quoting sources as saying.

"They want to keep cards close to the chest and not answer any questions about the boycott," a PCB insider, aware of developments, had told PTI.