ICC warning forces Pakistan team to surrender, match to begin late

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) – The Pakistani team's drama has finally ended. Now, Pakistan will face the United Arab Emirates in the 10th match of the Asia Cup 2025. The Pakistani team did not leave the hotel by the scheduled time, leading to speculation that the team might boycott the match. Now, it has been confirmed that the Pakistan team will play the match. The match will start one hour late.

The drama surrounding the Pakistan cricket team became a topic of discussion in the cricketing world. The Pakistani team adopted such a stubborn stance on the issue of removing match referee Pycroft that it seemed for a time that the match between Pakistan and UAE would not take place. But the ICC's threat and two major threats deflated Pakistan's attitude. In fact, the Pakistani team was demanding the removal of match referee Pycroft from the entire Asia Cup, but the ICC had made it clear that it would not remove its official from the tournament at any cost. Despite this, the Pakistani team did not leave the hotel at the scheduled time and the PCB announced a press conference, but from here the ICC issued a clear warning to the Pakistan Board.

The ICC explicitly threatened the PCB that if it refused to participate in the Asia Cup, it would not only face a significant financial penalty but also a ban from participating in future ICC tournaments. Now, with the T20 World Cup scheduled for India and Sri Lanka early next year, Pakistan could be excluded from this mega-tournament if it did not participate. The PCB realized this in time and abandoned its boycott decision.