As Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) threw tantrums over presence of match referee Andy Pycroft after handshake snub from Suryakumar Yadav,-led India, UAE team was caught in crossfire. First, PCB threatened to pull out of the T20 Asia Cup 2025 but did not follow through with it. The Group A match started one hour late on September 17 as PCB claimed that Pycroft has apologised to captain Salman Agha. Amidst the drama, UAE put up a fight against Pakistan but the inexperience showed as they lost the match by 41 runs. After the game, UAE captain Muhammad Waseem was asked to address rumours of rift in the team between India and Pakistan origin players.
"No, we are not talking about that (Indo-Pak tensions) as we play a lot of cricket together. We are like a family here. There is no Indian and no Pakistani. We play for UAE team. We play as a family and live as a family," Waseem said in the post-match press conference.
The Indian origin players in UAE team are Simranjeet Singh, Rahul Chopra, Harshit Kaushik, Dhruv Parshar and Alishan Sharafu whereas Pakistan origin players are Waseem, Haider Ali, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Rohid Khan and Asif Khan.
Waseem on Pakistan team arriving late
The Pakistan team reached the stadium late and the game was delayed by an hour. Waseem was well within his rights to ask for a walkover. It would have meant UAE progress to the Super 4. However, Waseem said that the thought did not cross his mind.
"First of all, this is not our responsibility or our work. We were focusing on our game. We came here to play the game, and we did that," he said.
In addition, it did not affect the team and it showed as they troubled Pakistan batters.
"Didn't matter if we were playing on time or we were playing late. Doesn't matter if we are playing at 6:30 or 7:30 pm. This is not our work. This is organiser's work. We came here to play the game and we played the game," he said.
Electrifying start for UAE, inexperience costs historic win
Siddique struck twice with the new ball, removing both openers Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan. Even after Fakhar Zaman's 36-ball 50, Pakistan were not in a good position. Simranjeet Singh's three-fer caused a panic. Later, Shaheen Afridi's cameo led Pakistan to 146/9. In the run chase, UAE batters faltered and were bowled out for 105 in 17.4 overs.