The International Cricket Council (ICC) has reportedly written a letter and sent emails to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), citing multiple breaches during the match against the UAE on September 17.
The violations included recording video inside the stadium on match day and posting footage on PCB’s official social media channels. These actions have drawn the ire of the ICC, and the cricket body is likely to take action against the Pakistan board. The ICC was also not made aware of how PCB planned to use the filmed footage.
According to news reports, Pakistan breached the rules by allowing the media manager to film a meeting between match referee Andy Pycroft, its head coach Mike Hesson, and captain Salman Ali Agha before the toss. The ICC had made it clear that media managers were barred from such meetings.
Wednesday’s clash with the UAE was delayed by an hour after Pakistan protested against ICC’s refusal to remove match referee Pycroft from their games.
The controversy began after the September 14 clash when the Indian team avoided handshakes with Pakistan players in protest of the Pahalgam attacks. Match referee Andy Pycroft then prohibited the captains of both teams from exchanging handshakes, a decision that drew strong criticism from the PCB, which also withdrew from the post-match presentation ceremony in protest.
Pakistan agreed to play the match after negotiations between the Asian Cricket Council, the ICC, and Pycroft.
The world cricket body has also taken exception to a PCB media release that claimed Pycroft had “apologised,” when in fact he had merely expressed regret over a miscommunication.
PCB’s statement stated that Pycroft apologized to the manager and captain of the Pakistan team, describing the situation as a miscommunication. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has also indicated its willingness to investigate any potential violations of the Code of Conduct during the match.
