Richie Richardson and Andy Picroft. (File photo)
The match referee can be changed in the Asia Cup today in the Pakistan vs UAE match. In this match, Richie Richardson can be made a match referee in place of Andy Picroft. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has withdrawn its threat to withdraw from the tournament and will field the team in its last group league match of the Asia Cup against UAE today. According to PCB sources, there has been an agreement under which the match referee Andy Pycroft will not be referee in matches related to Pakistan and Richie Richardson has been called to play the role of referee in the match.
After the defeat on Sunday, when the Indian players refused to join hands with their Pakistani players in honor of the 26 people killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, the PCB had demanded the removal of Pycroft from the tournament citing violations of ICC rules, but the game’s governing body had destroyed it.
Richi richardson is likely to replace andy pycroft as match reference in tomorrow’s game of Pakistan vs uae: ACC
– ANI (@ani) September 16, 2025
ICC rejected PCB’s petition
The rejection letter that the PCB received from the ICC was signed by its general manager Wasim Khan, who was the CEO of the first Cricket Board. The whole day was quite interesting after the ICC dismissed the PCB petition. It is believed that he finally managed to persuade ICC to allow Richardson to allow umpiring in the UAE match, a major relief for PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi. Please tell that Naqvi is also the Home Minister in the Shahbaz Sharif government.
Threat to withdraw from Asia Cup
A part of the Pakistani media said that the first meeting of Naqvi with Prime Minister Sharif was mainly related to the affairs of the Ministry of Home Affairs and had nothing to do with the threat of withdrawing from the Asia Cup. In fact, if Pakistan had withdrawn from the tournament, it would have lost about $ 1.6 million, which is a big amount for the BCCI’s less than half of the rich cricket board.
Pakistan’s press conference canceled
Earlier, a press conference was to be held in the evening before the UAE match, but it was canceled about one and a half hours before the Pakistani team arrived for training. A source of PCB, aware of this development, had told during the day, they want to hide their cards and do not want to answer any questions about boycott.
The top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were waiting for permission from Islamabad in terms of starting the practice session on Tuesday and staying in the Asia Cup, but his team players were trying to look happy on the eve of the match against UAE.
Pakistani players refused to join hands
Indian players on Sunday refused to join hands with Pakistan players as an honor to the victims of Pahalgam terror attack after defeating Pakistan. The PCB then demanded the removal of the match referee Andy Picroft. The PCB alleged that he had violated the ICC rules. However, his demand was purchased by the ICC.