Fact Check: Fake Andy Pycroft X Post Bashing Pakistan Players Goes Viral After PCB Demands Removal of Match Referee from Asia Cup 2025

Former Zimbabwe player and current ICC Match Referee Andy Pycroft gained much attention after the IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2025 match, which came into the limelight following the 'handshake controversy'. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has directly pinned the blame on Andy Pycroft for breaking the ICC's 'Spirit of Cricket' by asking Salman Ali Agha not to shake hands with Suryakumar Yadav during India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 toss, which later snowballed into the ' handshake controversy'. No Official Decision Taken On PCB’s Demand To Remove Referee Andy Pycroft After India Refused To Shake Hands With Pakistan Players in Asia Cup 2025 Clash, ICC Sources

The PCB made it clear in their demands to ACC that moving forward, Pycroft should be removed as match referee for the Asia Cup 2025 or else Pakistan will boycott the continental competition. Pycroft is a rather non-controversial figure in the ICC Elite Officials list, who has become the talk of the town since the IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2025 match. However, social media is abuzz with a certain post on X, where Pycroft has lashed out at Pakistan players, pointing out times when Mohammed Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal brought disrepute to cricket.  In turn, several cricket fans, who fell prey to the fake statement, responded by praising Pycroft's tweet and lauded the ICC match referee for coming out in public.

Fake Andy Pycroft Account Bashing Pakistan Players

Fan Fell For Fake Andy Pycroft's X Post

Another Fan Became a Victim of Fake Andy Pycroft X Post

User Gives In to Fake Andy Pycroft X Post

Is X Post Bashing Pakistan Players Done By Real Andy Pycroft?

No, ICC match referee and former Zimbabwe national cricket team player Andy Pycroft did not tweet on X, which bashed Pakistan players. Upon scanning through the X handle @90_andypycroft, it was found that several of the posts from the account claiming to be Pycroft were mostly non-cricket-centric, with several of them being in Devanagari or Hindi language. Some fans were quick to unearth that the account is from a fake Pycroft account.

User Points Out Fake Account

Another User Debunks Fake Andy Pycroft Account

Fan Clearly Sees Past Fake Andy Pycroft Account

Interestingly, several fake Andy Pycroft accounts, too, have started to pose as the legitimate handle of the ICC match referee, refuting claims of X post regarding Pakistan players doing the rounds as fake.

Another Fake Andy Pycroft Account Trying To Gain Attention

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 16, 2025 10:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).