NEW DELHI: Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi and pacer Haris Rauf appeared to be on the same page this week. During Sunday's India-Pakistan Asia Cup Super 4 clash, Rauf made gestures on the field mocking a plane crash, while Naqvi shared a slow-motion video on X of Cristiano Ronaldo mimicking an aircraft crash.

Rauf was fined 30% of his match fee for using abusive language and making provocative gestures during the high-voltage clash against India. However, as reported by Pakistan media outlet Samaa TV, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi stepped in and decided to pay the fine imposed on Rauf by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Another Pakistan player Sahibzada Farhan was handed a warning for his gun-fire celebration.

Naqvi's latest move raises questions about whether Pakistani players act at the behest of their officials.

Rauf maintained that there was nothing political about his actions but they were nonetheless deemed "abusive and aggressive" by the match referee.

Farhan, on the other hand, also pleaded not guilty to any code of conduct violation, claiming that the gun-fire celebration that he did after his half century on Sunday is a "traditional way of celebrating in his ethnic Pakhtun tribe".

India captain Suryakumar Yadav was also fined 30 per cent of his match fee for his comments on the Pahalgam terror attack, a sanction that the BCCI has appealed against.

It is understood that the BCCI doesn't agree with match referee Richie Richardson's assertion that Suryakumar has breached the Code of Conduct by standing for his country's Army and victims of terror attack.

"If the BCCI is unable to defend its captain, who stood by the Indian Army, it would be very poor optics. BCCI as an organisation shouldn't even accept a warning which would also mean that Surya is guilty," a source in the know of developments said.