Lahore, September 27, 2025: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has decided to personally bear the fine imposed on pacer Haris Rauf for breaching the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct during the ongoing Asia Cup 2025.
According to sources, Naqvi has assured players that he will cover any ICC-imposed fines on Pakistani cricketers from his own pocket. His move follows disciplinary hearings held on Friday involving Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and top-order batter Sahibzada Farhan.
Rauf was fined 30 percent of his match fee for making inappropriate gestures toward Indian fans who were heckling him during the high-voltage Super Four clash between Pakistan and India on September 21 in Dubai. Farhan, meanwhile, received only a formal warning from match referee Richie Richardson for his “gunfire celebration” after scoring a half-century in the same game.
On the Indian side, captain Suryakumar Yadav was fined 30 percent of his match fee for remarks made after Pakistan’s group-stage defeat on September 14. His comments, laced with political undertones referencing the armed forces, drew a sharp response from the PCB, which demanded a Level 4 sanction — the most serious category of ICC disciplinary action — citing damage to cricket’s reputation and violation of the game’s spirit.
The episode further intensified the already heated Pakistan–India rivalry. The two teams even skipped the customary pre-match handshake at the toss, reportedly on the advice of the match referee.
India went on to win the September 14 group-stage match by seven wickets, but Yadav’s remarks have continued to draw criticism from analysts, who described them as “unprecedented” and “harmful to the spirit of the game.”
