Asia Cup: Here’s how an Indian in ICC blocked PCB’s request to remove Andy Pycroft. Who is he?

The stiff deadlock between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the apex body (ICC) over the removal of Asia Cup match referee Andy Pycroft could have turned ugly had it not been about a specific high-profile person within the ICC, an Indian, who led the negotiations between the two, and was solely responsible for blocking PCB’s request in the handshake saga. The person concerned here is Sanjog Gupta, the first Indian to hold a CEO position within the ICC. Sanjog holds a reputation for being a transformative figure in the world of sports media, and per the latest reports, single-handedly jammed PCB’s request, resulting in the resumption of the Pakistan-UAE game on Wednesday (Sep 17).

Following Pakistan’s group game against India in Dubai the past Sunday (Sep 14), where Suryakumar Yadav and his Men in Blue decided against shaking hands with their counterparts after the match, a move he later described as a mark of respect for the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, the PCB alleged misconduct on the part of the match referee (Pycroft).

The PCB accused the former Zimbabwe cricketer of failing to uphold the spirit of the game, further alleging that he instructed the two captains (SKY and Pakistan’s Salman Agha) not to exchange team sheets and also advised Salman against initiating a handshake with Suryakumar Yadav during the toss.

Irked with Team India’s decision, Pakistan labelled Pycroft’s softness over not taking any action against the Men in Blue as ‘partisan’, formally requesting the ICC to remove Pycroft as the tournament match referee. Reports suggest that the PCB had asked for Richie Richardson to replace Pycroft, a request denied outright by the ICC.

Sanjog denies PCB’s request

Ahead of Pakistan’s last group game against the UAE, the PCB instructed a group of players, who were already seated in the team bus that was to take them to the venue, to return to the hotel room, hinting at boycotting the game over the handshake saga. While the players obeyed the PCB’s orders, a high-profile closed-door meeting between all parties concerned saw them arrive at the venue some time later, resuming cricket.

Meanwhile, the ICC responded to PCB’s request with a firm no, saying there was no valid reason to remove Pycroft from his position. Even following an internal inquiry on this matter conducted by the ICC, they did not find Pycroft guilty of any breach of the umpires and playing rules. The response, however, was part of a six-email exchange between the two boards, three from each.

Even though PCB's Mohsin Naqvi and CCO Salman Naseer claimed a moral victory over this investigation, with the PCB even admitting in a social media post about Pycroft apologising to the board for his actions, the ICC refuted them, stating that these claims are false.