Sunil Gavaskar minces no words in accusing Pakistan of bullying in the Asia Cup

Gavaskar slammed the PCB for their shenanigans in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 edition.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar minced no words in accusing Pakistan of bullying in the Asia Cup 2025. He slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for their shenanigans in the ongoing tournament.

Sunil Gavaskar accuses Pakistan of their antics in the Asia Cup 2025.

The 8-team tournament thus far has seen Pakistan skip mandatory pre-match press conferences, and the group stage contest between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) got underway one hour late, as the PCB remained hell-bent on its demand to have match referee Andy Pycroft removed. Sunil Gavaskar, in his column for Sportstar, said, “The PCB complaining about it was hard to understand, as there is nothing in the rule books that says handshakes are mandatory. There are many previous instances in different sports where opponents who have clashed have not shaken hands after their match has ended. The ICC quite rightly ignored the protest, if indeed there was one made as per media reports.” He added, “What needs to be looked at is the avoiding of the mandatory media meet on the eve of the match by the Pakistani contingent. They did not have to send the captain, players or the coach. Anyone among the large support staff could have met the media. That did not happen, and it will be interesting to see if any action is taken for avoiding what is mandatory.”

Gavaskar questions why authorities allowed the PCB to continue with their antics.

He further said, “The other thing that left a sour taste in the mouth is holding up the game and starting it one hour late. If the PCB had any issues to discuss with and about the match referee Andy Pycroft, then it had two full days after their loss to India and before the game against the UAE in which to do so. By keeping everybody in suspense and not even turning up at the ground until almost the toss time, they held the game to ransom.” Gavaskar added, “There is simply no excuse for delaying the start of the game for an hour while haggling to get an apology from the match referee for something that was also not in any of the rule books. Then, despite the ICC, which appoints the umpires and match referees, saying there was no apology given, the PCB insisted that they had secured one and so agreed to play. They pounced on the words ‘regrettable miscommunication’ to say that this was the apology.”

Sunil Gavaskar also spoke about PCB’s claim of Andy Pycroft apologising to them. He said, “Presumably, just to get the game started, the mandarins may have used the word ‘regrettable’, when ‘avoidable’ would have been the apt word, for there was nothing to regret in the match referee informing, if indeed he did so, that the Indian skipper would not shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart. If he did, then it was simply to avoid an embarrassing situation for the Pakistan skipper. To suggest anything other than that actually speaks a lot about the warped kind of thinking.”