PCB makes U-turn, withdraws Asia Cup boycott threat, to play UAE in final group game

After much back-and-forth, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has withdrawn its pullout threat and will field the team in its last Asia Cup group league game against UAE in Dubai on Wednesday.

According to PCB insiders, a "middle-of-the-road" agreement was reached under which match referee Andy Pycroft will not be officiating matches involving Pakistan with Richie Richardson being summoned to do duty in their must-win fixture.

Post the loss on Sunday, when the Indian players refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts as a mark of respect to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed, the PCB had asked for the removal of Pycroft from the tournament citing violation of ICC rules and regulations, only to be rejected by the game's global governing body.

Incidentally, the rejection letter that the PCB received from the ICC was signed by its general manager Waseem Khan, who was formerly the beleaguered cricket board's CEO.

The day was full of intrigue after the ICC rejected PCB's plea. It is understood that they finally managed to convince the ICC to allow Richardson to officiate the UAE game, which is a face-saver for PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the interior minister in the Shahbaz Sharif government.

A section of the Pakistan media reported that Naqvi's scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Sharif earlier in day was primarily related to interior ministry affairs and had little to do with the Asia Cup pullout threat.

In fact, if Pakistan had pulled out of the tournament, they would have lost around USD 16 million, which is a significant amount for a cricket board not half as rich as the BCCI.

Earlier, there was a scheduled press conference in the evening ahead of the UAE game but around an hour and a half before the Pakistan team's arrival for training, it was cancelled.

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

Amid the buzz that the team might skip the training, the players checked in even as the Indians continued with their gruelling session, which had entered the third hour by then.

The intensity of the two training sessions said it all about the gulf in standards that is widening exponentially with each passing day.

While the Indians had a full-fledged warm-up session with even the likes of Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma doing Bronco runs under Adrian Le Roux, the Pakistan team's training comprised an archaic passing-the-football session, something that was in vogue 15 years back.

While one can argue that the team is relaxed despite the on-field hammering from India and the off-field issues, the noise and banter in the company of the strength and conditioning coach did tell a story about suppressed tension, even as the Indian media watched the session from close.

Not once did any Pakistani player venture towards the Indian arena to have a look as their nets started under head coach Mike Hesson.

Meanwhile, on the request of the Indian media contingent, skipper Suryakumar Yadav cut a cake to celebrate his 35th birthday belatedly. His birthday was on Sunday (September 14), when India notched up a convincing victory over Pakistan.