The start of Pakistan’s Asia Cup cricket game against the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday has been delayed in the fallout of a handshake dispute with archrival India.
“Consultations are going on and the match between UAE and Pakistan has been delayed by one hour,” Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Amir Mir told reporters in Lahore.
The match in Dubai appears to be going ahead at this stage, at 1530 GMT.
“We have asked the Pakistan team to depart for the Dubai Cricket Stadium,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi earlier wrote on X.
The PCB had demanded that the cricket governing body, ICC, remove match referee Andy Pycroft from the remainder of the eight-nation Asia Cup.
The Zimbabwean was the match referee at Sunday's game, where India's players refused to shake hands with Pakistan's players, both at the toss and at the end of the game.
Pycroft was scheduled to be the match referee again on Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if he would be in charge.
The Indian cricket team scored a relatively easy win on September 14 against Pakistan at a T20 international faceoff.
But what followed was no ordinary post-match ritual, as Indian players walked off the field without shaking hands with their Pakistani counterparts, an unusual snub that generated online buzz about the vanishing traditions of what the British once endearingly called the gentleman’s game.
