Last Updated on 2 hours by Charbel Coorey

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi has revealed that Pakistan stood to incur huge losses had they pulled out of the Asia Cup.

According to Pakistan, match referee Andy Pycroft played a central role in the non-handshake saga against India. They called for his removal, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected their wishes.

Pakistan threatened to boycott their match against the UAE in Dubai earlier this week, with current Chairman Mohsin Naqvi holding an emergency meeting with Sethi and Ramiz Raja to discuss a plan of action following the ICC’s decision. The match was delayed by an hour as the Pakistan team was ordered to remain in their hotel, before the PCB eventually made the decision to play on.

Najam Sethi reveals what happened behind the scenes

The leadup to the UAE-Pakistan match felt like a soap opera. Reports suggested Pakistan were all set to boycott the match, before muted videos surfaced of Naqvi in discussion with Sethi, Raja and other officials in Lahore.

Sethi revealed what happened behind the scenes. He said Naqvi had made the call to boycott the Asia Cup, and had to be advised against the decision due to the damage it would have caused for the PCB.

“In the heat of the moment, Mohsin Naqvi had decided to withdraw from the Asia Cup. My friends told me, ‘Don’t go, don’t help them.’ I wasn’t even planning to help Naqvi. I went to help the Pakistan Cricket Board,” Sethi told Samaa TV, as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“If what he was attempting had succeeded, Pakistan would have suffered irreparable damage. We could have been sanctioned by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), penalised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), foreign players might have refused to play in the PSL, and we stood to lose $15 million in ACC broadcasting rights.”

The match against UAE went ahead and Pakistan looked distracted. They collapsed to 93/6 and 110/7, with only Fakhar Zaman finding any rhythm among the top eight. Shaheen Shah Afridi then played a crucial cameo, smashing a 14-ball 29* to get Pakistan to a defendable 146/9. The score was eventually 41 runs too many for UAE.

Next up for Pakistan is another meeting against India, this time in the Super Four stage. Tension is high between the teams in what has been a year of geo-political hostility between the two nations. If Pakistan are to win, they need to produce much better cricket than they have so far in this Asia Cup.