India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has been told to avoid passing political remarks after a hearing with International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Richie Richardson in Dubai on Thursday.
It remains unclear if the Indian captain faces any additional sanctions.
The official hearing became necessary after the Pakistan team management filed a complaint alleging that Suryakumar made political remarks after India’s Asia Cup group-stage win over Pakistan on September 14.
Suryakumar’s use of the term “Operation Sindoor” formed one of the PCB’s main points of objection. Suryakumar used the term at the post-match press conference on September 14 while dedicating the victory to the terror attack victims in Pahalgam and India’s armed forces.
The September 14 match also caused an earlier controversy when Pakistan lodged a “formal protest” against match referee Andy Pycroft, alleging that he had “requested the captains not to shake hands during the toss.” The PCB demanded the ICC remove Pycroft from their match roster, a request the ICC rejected.
The handshake incident threatened to escalate into a larger issue when the Pakistan team delayed their arrival for the subsequent match against the UAE. They eventually agreed to play after Pycroft offered an apology for the “miscommunication” over the handshake.
Meanwhile, India’s own complaint to the ICC regarding controversial on-field gestures made by Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf during their Super Fours clash will proceed today.
The gestures were made during a tense game that featured multiple verbal exchanges between the two sets of players. Farhan, asked about his machine-gun celebration after reaching his half-century against India, had previously dismissed concerns. “That celebration was just a moment at that time,” he said at a press conference. “I do not do a lot of celebrations after scoring a fifty. But, it suddenly came to my mind that let’s do a celebration today. I did that. I don’t know how people will take it. I don’t care about that.”
The hearing for the complaint against Farhan and Rauf is reportedly expected to take place today.