Pycroft given 'four minutes' notice ahead of India-Pakistan handshake-gate

Andy Pycroft, the ICC match referee at the centre of the controversy that nearly derailed the 2025 Asia Cup, was only told minutes before the toss of the India-Pakistan match on September 14 that the two captains were not to shake hands. At that moment, he believed himself to be a conveyor of the message rather than issuing instructions. Pycroft was subsequently the subject of a complaint made by the PCB, in which it accused him of breaching ICC codes as well as the spirit of cricket, and demanded his removal from the tournament.

Details have begun to emerge of the frenzied nature of events between the two Pakistan games on September 14 and 17. The controversy was sparked, according to an official, "four minutes before the toss" in Sunday's game between Pakistan and India. As Pycroft walked on to the field, he was told by the ACC venue manager that the BCCI had communicated to them - with the Indian government's approval - that there was to be no handshake between the captains Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha.

PCB officials argued that Pycroft should have alerted the ICC about this unusual request; Pycroft is believed to have said he did not have time to do so. With enough time, he would have consulted the ICC. Instead, moments before the toss, he told Agha of the situation in the belief he was avoiding a potentially embarrassing public moment if Agha went to shake hands with Suryakumar, only to be snubbed.

Pycroft's decision has not been seen by the ICC at any point as a breach of any code of conduct but as an action he was authorised to take in his remit as a match official deputed to manage the game.

The issue came to a head on Wednesday with uncertainty swirling around Pakistan's must-win game against UAE and the PCB threatening to pull out of the tournament if Pycroft, who was rostered for the game, wasn't reassigned. The match eventually went ahead after an hour's delay following a hastily arranged, clear-the-air meeting between Pycroft and the Pakistan team hierarchy.

The PCB claimed in a statement that Pycroft had "apologised to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team", though sources familiar with the situation maintain it was not an apology, but an "expression of regret over the misunderstanding and miscommunication" around the incident.

The PCB had sent an official complaint to the ICC's general manager of cricket Wasim Khan between Sunday night and Monday morning after Pakistan's defeat to India. In it, the board spelt out the sequence of events before the toss and accused Pycroft of misconduct, saying it was alarmed "to note that an ICC-appointed and supposedly neutral match referee opted to indulge in conduct which clearly violates the spirit of cricket and MCC laws".

The PCB said Pycroft "failed to discharge his responsibility to ensure that respect was extended and maintained amongst the captains as well as between the two competing sides, and to create a positive atmosphere by his conduct and encourage the captains and participating teams to do likewise". It called for his immediate withdrawal from the Asia Cup.

In its first response on September 15, the ICC told the PCB it had "carefully investigated" the complaint, but "concluded" there was "no case to answer on the part of Mr Pycroft", and he was "not at fault" in any way. In its review, the ICC had spoken to Pycroft, the other match and tournament officials, and the tournament director Andrew Russell.

The ICC explained that Pycroft's communication to Agha not to shake hands was "following clear direction" from the ACC venue manager. Having received the message at such "short notice", Pycroft, the ICC said, had dealt with the situation professionally. "In acting as he did, the match referee was committed to preserving the sanctity of the toss and avoiding any potential embarrassment that might have arisen."

The ICC said the match referee's role was not to "regulate any team- or tournament-specific protocol that has been agreed outside of the area of play" and that the "real issue" was the handshake not taking place, which was a "matter" to be addressed and resolved by the tournament organiser and "those who took the actual decision".

The ICC email to the PCB also stated that changing match officials at the "request or insistence" of a participating country would set an "extremely dangerous and unfortunate precedent".

The PCB then expressed "disappointment" at the ICC's decision to absolve Pycroft, pointing to "glaring discrepancies". The board said the ICC had failed to seek out "complete evidence/version of events" from witnesses who had "actually seen" what it described as Pycroft's "offensive conduct". The PCB said the ICC had not spoken to Agha or the team management during its probe, which it called a "one-sided process".

The PCB questioned how a match referee could be only a "messenger" and convey directives that violated the spirit of cricket. Pycroft, the PCB said, should have offered an "unequivocal refusal" when he was asked to tell Agha not to shake hands with Suryakumar. In a separate email on Wednesday, the ICC said the PCB had every opportunity to "provide any supporting documentation or evidence" to back their case against Pycroft, but none had been received.

During this back and forth with the ICC, the PCB raised the prospect of withdrawing from the Asia Cup, saying the Pakistan government had advised it to do so if Pycroft was not removed. The PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is the country's interior minister, a senior figure in the government.

A tense stalemate ensued, with the Pakistan team training on Tuesday evening ahead of their game against UAE but cancelling the pre-match press conference. On Wednesday, after a flurry of emails in the morning, a video call was arranged early afternoon Dubai time between senior ICC officials, their counterparts from the PCB and the Emirates Cricket Board. The ICC offered the PCB an opportunity to talk through its case and arguments but both sides stood their ground at the end of it: the PCB continued to call for Pycroft's removal, the ICC insisted he hadn't breached any rules.

Around 4pm Dubai time, two hours before the scheduled toss, another video call was arranged between the same people. It again began with both sides unrelenting. Around this time, the Pakistan players were told to remain at the hotel and not go to the ground, having originally been scheduled to leave at 4.30pm. This was the first time the world outside discovered how serious the situation was. With time running out, it was on this call that Wasim Khan and ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta are believed to have suggested a meeting between Pycroft and the Pakistan team. PCB officials, keen on the idea, took it to Naqvi, who was consulting with former board heads Najam Sethi and Ramiz Raja on the matter. He agreed, the ICC was told, and the Pakistan team left for the stadium at 5.40pm Dubai time.

The players arrived at Dubai International Stadium half an hour before the rescheduled toss at 7pm, and Pycroft immediately met with Agha, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson and team manager Naved Akram Cheema in a side room with Wasim Khan also present. Pycroft is believed to have begun the conversation by asking the Pakistan participants about their precise grievances. In response, he explained to them why he acted the way he did, that he was merely the messenger rather than the man responsible for the no-handshake directive.

He expressed regret for the "miscommunication and misunderstanding" around the situation and, in particular, for Agha to find himself in such a situation moments before a big game. It was here that Pycroft explained his worry that not telling Agha and letting him go to shake hands with Suryakumar would have been more problematic.

Soon after the meeting, the PCB released a statement claiming Pycroft had apologised. The ICC is believed to be unhappy with it and the idea of a response "clarifying" the situation was discussed, though it isn't certain whether one will be made. The PCB also released a short video of the meeting despite concerns raised during the meeting about such a video being recorded. It was eventually allowed on the condition that no audio be recorded.

The PCB also said the ICC had "expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match". The prospects of that remain slim, not least because it isn't clear what the inquiry would focus on, given the ICC has repeatedly asserted to the PCB that there was no misconduct on Pycroft's part.