• Source:JND
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IND vs PAK, Asia Cup 2025: Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has come out in support of match referee Andy Pycroft amid the controversy surrounding, stating that he's not a "schoolteacher" who's supposed to force players to shake hands.

Pycroft was at the centre of a controversy during India's Asia Cup match against Pakistan last Sunday when India didn't shake hands with Pakistan as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.

The matter escalated in a heated debate, with Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) expressing dissatisfaction over the situation.

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PCB had requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to remove match referee Pycroft from the Asia Cup 2025 tournament. However, the ICC refused both demands, standing firmly behind Pycroft, an Elite Panel referee.

"Andy Pycroft actually saved everybody from seeing such a poor spectacle. India informed the match referee in advance — this is our decision, and we will follow it. That's it. After all this drama, you lost the match. So what are you complaining about?” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel 'Ash Ki Baat'.

“He is not a schoolteacher. He's not a principal. He can't go and bring Surya and say, ‘Come shake hands'. That's not his job. What exactly is Pycroft's fault here?” he asked.

The governing body later set up a meeting between Pycroft and Pakistan's team management -- captain Salman Ali Agha, head coach Mike Hesson and manager Naveed Akram Cheema, where the PCB asserted that the referee said he "regretted the miscommunication."

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Ashwin was scathing about Pakistan's demand for an apology from Pycroft about the handshake controversy, highlighting that the match referee wasn't a "schoolteacher" who could force players to shake hands.

"If I were Andy Pycroft, you are apologising to me. What would I even be apologising for? ‘I'm sorry that Suryakumar Yadav didn't shake your hand'? Really?” the 39-year-old from Chennai said.