Asia Cup: Andy Pycroft to serve as match referee for India vs Pakistan Super Fours clash

Dubai [UAE], September 20 (ANI): Andy Pycroft, who was at the heart of the handshake row when India and Pakistan locked horns on September 14 at the Asia Cup, will serve as the match referee for the Super Four fixture between the two teams in Dubai on Sunday, according to ESPNcricinfo.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had demanded Pycroft’s immediate removal in the aftermath of their landslide 7-wicket defeat against India. According to the Pakistan board, Pycroft had asked the captains, Salman Agha and Suryakumar Yadav, not to shake hands during the toss of their group stage encounter.

The International Cricket Council didn’t entertain PCB’s plea, and the former Zimbabwe cricketer stayed. However, the row spilt over into Pakistan’s must-win game against the UAE. After cancelling the pre-match press conference, Pakistan arrived late at the Dubai International Stadium and forced the game to be delayed by an hour. Pakistan players were asked to stay at the hotel while PCB officials engaged in backroom talks with the ICC.

Moments before Pakistan’s toss against the UAE, Pakistan team management met Pycroft, which snowballed into another controversy. A muted video of the meeting was shared by PCB on social media, which was later deleted. It is under this backdrop that the two teams will lock horns at the same venue once again.

Amid the off-field drama, Suryakumar remained focused on the task that is ahead of them and told reporters on Saturday, “I feel our preparations have been really good leading into the tournament. And we had three good games also. So we are actually focusing on what we can do best. We want to follow all the good habits, which we’ve been doing in the last two to three games. And we’ll take it one game at a time.”

“But yeah, it doesn’t give us an edge because we played them once, and we had a good game. Of course, it will be a good game. We’ll have to start well from scratch. And whoever plays well will win the game,” he added.

India will have an optional practice session, considering the Suryakumar-led troops wrapped up their group stage campaign with a 21-run victory over Oman on Friday. They travelled from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in the wee hours. Meanwhile, Pakistan will go through a full training session at the ICC Academy.

India squad for Asia Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

Pakistan squad for Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim. (ANI)

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