The International Cricket Council (ICC)’s official statement on the impending punishments for Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and the Pakistani duo of Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan is unlikely to be
released until Sunday. According to PTI, the ICC wants to wait till the end of the 2025 Asia Cup, which will see an India-Pakistan final on Sunday, to reveal its reprimands and fines for the trio’s actions.
“The ICC will not issue any official release on the sanctions till the end of the tournament, given the sensitivity of the matter,” the news agency cited a tournament source as saying.
The report said that the statement could be expected for Monday, a day after the final.
Both Suryakumar and Rauf are expected to get fined 30% of their match fees. Suryakumar was accused by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of making a political statement when he dedicated his team’s win against Pakistan in the group stage of the tournament to the Indian armed forces and the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.
BCCI is said to be in disagreement with referee Richie Richardson’s assertion that Suryakumar breached the ICC Code of Conduct.
“If the BCCI is unable to defend its captain, who stood by the Indian Army, it would be very poor optics. BCCI as an organisation shouldn’t even accept a warning which would also mean that Surya is guilty,” the report cited an unnamed source in the know of the developments.
Rauf, on the other hand, made repeated gestures replicating falling airplanes and even showed ‘6-0’ to Indian fans in the crowd, which were seen as taunts about Pakistan’s baseless claims that they damaged some Indian fighter jets during the four-day scuffle between the countries in May.
Meanwhile, Farhan, who did a gun-fire gesture, which was also severely criticised in India, is likely to be let off with an official warning.
