Asia Cup 2025: PCB seeks removal of ICC match referee Andy Pycroft after handshake snub

Even as the Indian players' refusal to shake hands with Pakistani cricketers after their Sunday's Asia Cup clash snowballed into a major controversy on Monday, a snubbed Pakistan Cricket Board demanded the removal of match referee Andy Pycroft.

The PCB is holding the Zimbabwean, who officiated the match, responsible for the fiasco that has stirred fresh tensions between the two arch-rivals.

PCB has claimed that Pycroft "asked (Pakistan) captain Salman Ali Agha, at the time of the toss, not to shake hands with his Indian counterpart".

Pakistan team manager Naved Cheema has also filed a complaint with the ACC alleging that it was on Pycroft's insistence that team sheets weren't exchanged between the two skippers as is the norm.

While the issue rages, India are now faced with a tough question: Would they receive the trophy from PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the head of Asian Cricket Council, in case the Suryakumar Yadav-led side wins the title?

Surya had justified his team's stand after the seven-wicket win on Sunday, equating the gesture to expressing solidarity with the families of Pahalgam terror attack.

After lodging a protest with the the ACC, the PCB has now sought the intervention from ICC, which is headed by Jay Shah. The Asia Cup, however, is not an ICC event and is managed by the ACC.

"The PCB has lodged a complaint with the ICC regarding violations by the Match Referee of the ICC Code of Conduct and the MCC Laws pertaining to the Spirit of Cricket. The PCB has demanded an immediate removal of the Match Referee from the Asia Cup," Naqvi said on 'X'.