Following the previous controversies, the ICC handed over the India vs Pakistan Asia Cup final match duties to match the referee Richie Richardson instead of Andy Picroft.
India will take to Pakistan in the final match of the much awaited Asia Cup 2025. This is the first time in 8 years that both rivals are ready to introduce in a knockout game. The last time they met in knockout stability, the 2017 ICC was back into the Champions Trophy, where Pakistan won the match.
Andy Pycroft snubs the match referee ahead of the Asia Cup final
The last time India played against Pakistan, PCB filed the match referee for approval against Andy Pycroft. However, the ICC did not consider the PCB petition for any disciplinary approval against the referee.
For the first time these two teams played in this edition of the Asia Cup, the Indian captain joined Salman Aga one hand. The PCB convicted Pycroft for the incident, stating that he was biased to the Indian captain.
However, Richie Richardson, Referee, who recently chaired the ICC’s disciplinary hearing on Suryakumar Yadav, has now been reported as a new match referee in the final competition. This will prevent both boards from creating more controversies.
Richie Richardson is the ICC match referee today.#Asiacup2025 #Indvspak
– Kushan Sarkar (@Kushansarkar) September 28, 2025
Pakistan drowned from 113/1 to 146
The Asia Cup final started well, in which Sahibzada Farhan dominated the innings with a half -century. Fakhar Zaman also played well on top; However, this was his dismissal that caused a sudden collapse of Pakistan.
The Indian spinner again changed the game once again, which proved Gautam Gambhir’s strategies correct. Kuldeep Yadav was the bowlers pick up with 4 wickets in his magic, while Varun Chakraborty and Axar Patel also chose one wicket.
Two wickets of Jasprit Bumrah helped India dismiss him for a score of 146, so limited him to a minor target of 147.
Pakistan needs Abhishek Sharma’s initial wicket to keep an eye on the Asia Cup
After failing to promise with the bat, the middle order of Pakistan collapsed badly, despite the quick start of its innings. After two openers fell, the middle-order batsmen failed to reach a double-point score.
After such a disappointing end for his batting innings, Pakistan will be keen to dismiss Indian opener Abhishek Sharma quickly.
ALSO READ: Haris Rowf Out? Hasan Nawaz in? Pakistan played XI vs India- Asia Cup final 2025