India has filed an official complaint with the ICC against Pakistan cricketers Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan for their provocative gestures during the two sides’ Asia Cup Super 4 game here last Sunday. It is reliably learnt that the BCCI filed the complaint against the duo on Wednesday and ICC is in receipt of the e-mail. An ICC hearing is expected to take place in case Sahibzada and Rauf deny these allegations in writing. They might have to appear before the ICC Elite Panel Referee Richie Richardson for a hearing.
In a retaliatory gesture, the Pakistan Cricket Board also seems to have lodged an official complaint with the international parent body against Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav for expressing his solidarity with victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and dedicating his team’s victory to the Indian Armed Forces involved in Operation Sindoor. His comments came after the September 14 game.
PCB alleges that Surya’s comments are “political” although technically it needs to be seen when exactly did it file the complaint, which needs to be lodged within seven days of the said comment.
Rauf and Farhan’s gestures
During the September 21 match, Rauf had made gestures to depict the bringing down of a plane to mock India’s military action after Indian supporters chanted “Kohli, Kohli” referring to the couple of match-winning sixes that the Indian legend hit off the pacer at MCG during a T20 World Cup game in 2022.
During the match, he hurled abuses at Indian openers Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma during his bowling spell and the two youngsters responded with their bats. Sahibzada, during the same match, celebrated with a gun-firing gesture using his bat as a machine gun prop, something that has been widely criticised.
“That celebration was just a moment at that time. I do not do a lot of celebrations after scoring 50. 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,” Farhan had told reporters after the match.
Both Rauf and Sahibzada will have to explain their gestures at the ICC hearing and if they can’t convince then they could face sanctions as per the code of conduct.
Adding fuel to the fire, Asian Cricket Council chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday posted a slow-motion video of Cristiano Ronaldo on ‘X’, where the Portuguese legend is seen gesturing that an aircraft suddenly crashed, something that Rauf indicated on-field during the clash of arch-rivals last Sunday.
Naqvi, apart from also being Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, is the ‘Interior Minister’ of his country and is known to make provocative statements against India. Ronaldo, in the video, could well be explaining how his direct free-kick dipped and entered the goal. After this, whether the Indian team, which is now the finalist of the Asia Cup, share the dais with the ACC Chairman is something that remains to be seen.
The matter hasn’t gone unnoticed as far as both BCCI and ICC mandarins are concerned. Only time will tell if there will be some kind of action taken against Naqvi.
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