{"id":19435,"date":"2025-09-17T18:04:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19435"},"modified":"2025-09-17T18:04:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:04:19","slug":"pcb-chief-naqvi-urges-politics-free-cricket-after-icc-referee-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19435","title":{"rendered":"PCB chief Naqvi urges politics-free cricket after ICC referee apology"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday stressed the need to separate sports from political wrangling, as International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Andy Pycroft apologised to Pakistan cricket team manager and captain.<\/p>\n<p>Naqvi said they had requested the ICC to hold an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred on September 14, emphasising that cricket and politics cannot go hand in hand. \u201cCricket is a sport, and it should remain a sport. Cricket must stay above all this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing a press conference in Dubai, Naqvi said he had asked former PCB chiefs Najam Sethi and Ramiz Raja to hold discussions, since the decision to boycott\u2014if taken\u2014would have been significant.<\/p>\n<p>Read More:\u00a0Asia Cup 2025: Qualification scenarios for all teams in Super Four stage<\/p>\n<p>Pycroft had barred the captains of India and Pakistan from shaking hands during their match, a move that drew a strong reaction from the PCB.<\/p>\n<p>The match referee termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication and apologised to the management in person. The ICC expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the match against India.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and several others were also involved in the process. Expressing gratitude, he said: \u201cWe also don\u2019t know what decision should be taken at the last moment, so we are thankful to Allah that he upheld the dignity of the country in line with the expectations of the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With an eye on performance, Naqvi said the team still had room to improve. \u201cEven if there are weaknesses, we will rectify them. We have a panel of selectors who will review the performances, and I promise that if there are weaknesses, I will definitely ask them to overcome them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sethi reinforced that the PCB has always kept politics out of its domain. \u201cPCB has always held the stance that there should be no politics in sports. Even when I was chairman, we had the same stance, and even today it remains the same. They played politics, but we didn\u2019t. We showed sportsman spirit, we asked for an apology, and they apologised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also Read:\u00a0Arshad Nadeem qualifies for the World Athletics Championships javelin throw final<\/p>\n<p>Raja also described the recent developments as a win for cricket. \u201cIt was a critical situation, emotions were high, and I am happy we didn\u2019t make an emotional decision that could damage cricket. I have always believed that the cricket team must speak through its performance. They should carry it forward, and whatever the frustration or hurt sentiments, they should show it through their cricket and prove to the world how good a cricketing nation we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He raised concerns over the frequent appointment of Pycroft as match referee for India\u2019s games, noting that Pycroft has officiated in 90 matches involving India \u2014 a number he finds surprising and inappropriate for a neutral platform. He added that once the apology came, it became clear the issue needed to stay within the arena of sport.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Pakistan cricket team arrived at the Dubai Cricket Stadium for their must-win game against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after receiving permission from the PCB chairman. The UAE won the toss and chose to bowl against Pakistan.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday stressed the need to separate sports from political wrangling, as International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Andy Pycroft apologised to Pakistan cricket team manager and captain. Naqvi said they had requested the ICC to hold an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}