A day after India-Pakistan Asia Cup Group A clash in Dubai, the Pakistan Cricket Board sacked its Director of Cricket Operations Usman Walha in wake of the no handshake controversy. A report now claims that Walha was axed for not apprising his own skipper Salman Agha about the rules and regulations that are to be followed during the continental tournament.
According to news agency PTI, an irate PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the current chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), ordered the sacking of Walha on Monday for the embarrassment caused to the national cricket team and its captain.
Citing sources, PTI reports that it was Walha’s duty to inform Agha about the “No Handshake” policy but he didn’t do so and the Pakistan skipper
was apparently caught unawares by the turn of events.
“Walha should have released a statement at the toss itself when the two captains didn’t shake hands. Naqvi apparently was furious as he handled it poorly,” a PCB source was quoted as saying.
Pakistan Step Back On Withdrawal Threat
Pakistan will reportedly not pull out from the ongoing Asia Cup but have maintained that match referee Andy Pycroft be replaced by Richie Richardson for the team’s remaining games of the tournament.
Indian players not shaking hands with Pakistani counterparts following their Group A match triggered a controversy. PCB shot off a letter to the ICC blaming Pycroft for the fiasco.
PCB claims that it was Pycroft who asked Agha not to shake hands with India captain Suryakumar Yadav and also did not allow the exchange of team-sheets between the two skippers as is the norm.
In its initial letter to the ICC, PCB had stated: “The match referee 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.
“In fact, the match referee’s instructions to the two team captains were entirely directed towards achieving the opposite result. This misconduct violates Article 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Match Officials, which specifically makes it an offence for the Match Referee to conduct himself in a manner, which is contrary to the spirit of game and violates the MCC Laws.”
“Given the gravity, political nature/background, and far-reaching consequences and repercussions, the misconduct has also caused disrepute to the game.”
