Haris Rauf, Sahibzada Farhan’s ICC hearing today:Pakistan players made provocative gestures; Suryakumar warned ahead of IND-PAK final

BCCI’s protest against Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan has led to both players being summoned for an ICC hearing on Friday (September 26), further heightening tensions ahead of the India-Pakistan final on September 28. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had filed a formal complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday against Pakistan cricketers Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan for making provocative gestures in September 21 clash vs India. Rauf made a gesture of crashing aircraft, while Sahibzada did a gun celebration after scoring a fifty. Meanwhile, in the development of the complaint filed by the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) regarding Suryakumar Yadav’s comments post 14 September IND-PAK clash, a hearing was held and a warning was issued to Surya. Suryakumar asked to refrain from political comments Indian cricket team captain Suryakumar Yadav was advised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday not to make any comments that could be considered political. This advice was given by ICC match referee Richie Richardson during an official hearing. This hearing was held on a complaint by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in which Suryakumar had expressed support for the Indian Army’s Operation Sindoor and victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in comments made after the India-Pakistan match on September 14. Suryakumar pleaded “not guilty” to these comments. The BCCI COO and Cricket Operations Manager were also present with Suryakumar at the hearing. According to media reports, Richardson explained to Suryakumar that he should not make comments that appear political. The punishment is not yet clear, but since this is a Level 1 violation, Suryakumar may receive a warning or a fine of 15% of the match fee. Rauf got furious over crowd chanting Kohli’s name In the match, Indian fans were taunting Rauf by chanting Virat Kohli’s name. This was because Kohli had hit two consecutive sixes off Rauf’s bowling in the 2022 T-20 World Cup match played in Melbourne. Rauf got angry at this and made gestures of shooting down planes flying in the sky. Pakistan claims that during Operation Sindoor, the Pakistani army shot down 5 Indian fighter planes. However, this claim is considered baseless. Rauf’s gesture quickly went viral on social media. Indian fans heavily criticised his actions and trolled him. Rauf also argued with Abhishek-Gill During his bowling, Rauf also used abusive language towards Indian openers Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma. After the match, Abhishek Sharma said that we responded with the bat. ‘I don’t care’- Sahibzada Farhan’s response on gun celebration In the same match, after scoring a fifty, Sahibzada Farhan used his bat like a machine gun and made shooting gestures. This was heavily criticised. After the match, Sahibzada said, “I don’t care how people take it. It was just a moment, I felt like celebrating, and I did it. I don’t usually celebrate after a fifty, but this time I thought of trying something.” Mohsin Naqvi’s controversial post Pakistan’s Home Minister and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi’s video post added more fuel to the fire. He posted a video on social media on Wednesday. The post footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, where he was gesturing about a plane crash, similar to the gesture made by Rauf on the field. This video presumably shows Ronaldo’s free-kick, but it is being considered inflammatory against India. BCCI and ICC have taken notice of Naqvi’s action. It remains to be seen whether any action will be taken against Naqvi. Particularly, the question arises whether the Indian team, which has reached the Asia Cup final, will share the stage with Naqvi.