Lahore: Repeat of the Champions Trophy 2025 in Lahore, Pakistan, remains around the corner, but it could be in danger now as the rift between Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and International Cricket Council (ICC) threatens to eat up the bounty in dispute. Mohsin Naqvi, the current PCB chairman, has refused to budge, sticking to a plan to host the entire tournament within Pakistan’s borders, and rebuffing the idea of playing through a hybrid model in different countries. This overlooks the fact that former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja told this reality in bitter terms as recently as last year, when he recognised that if the Indian cricket board wished, it could bring down the PCB with its influence.
This came a day after Ramiz Raja’s remark that the reason he felt ignored by the ICC was because 90 percent of the ICC’s revenue comes from Indian companies. Being a sport with such financial clout, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can simply move the Champions Trophy to another country. But BCCI has never wanted to do this in the first place, as it has had cordial relationships with the boards of cricket across the world and helped foster international cricket by playing bilateral series to help other boards financially.
Mohsin Naqvi himself is not flexible about the Champions Trophy, and doesn’t want to contemplate the hybrid model in which games could be played in two venues. Only he seems to be oblivious to the fact that the entire tournament can be shifted elsewhere if the BCCI wants and Pakistan will have no top sporting event. The current BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, will soon take over as ICC chairman and, much like his handling of the Asia Cup earlier this year, will have two options: They began to convince the PCB that the hybrid model must be accepted or that they should move the tournament to another country altogether. Deeming the hosting an honour, Sri Lanka or the UAE are likely to accept the offer, which will be a huge set back for Pakistan’s cricket governing body.
For years Indian teams won’t travel to Pakistan so long as the terrorism which originates from Pakistan’s soil stops, that’s the BCCI’s stance. In 2008 it won the Indian team last time in Pakistan but its stance hasn’t changed since then. Bilateral matches had been revived between the two nations in 2004 after cricket diplomacy brought an end to 14 years of mutual mistrust, before tensions and security concerns saw relations come to a halt again.
A statement from the current PCB spokesperson saying they have not been provided any reason by the BCCI for refusing to send their team only shows a lack of understanding on the complexities. The Champions Trophy is an ICC event, not a bilateral one, and the BCCI has communicated on the issue in advance to the ICC. The reason for India’s China stance is one and the same: Stop promoting terrorism from Pakistani soil, the spokesperson said.
And PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi must also come to realise that nobody needs to be sacrificed for matters of pride and stubbornness, whether it’s an umpire or a cricketer, because ultimately, it won’t further the interests of Pakistan cricket. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has poured in billions to renovate its stadiums in preparation for the Champions Trophy. Pakistani fans crave to see an ICC event in the native country. Naqvi, in turn, should be devoting his time to trying to host matches successfully and getting Pakistan back to where it should be in terms of hosting major tournaments. The threat of a boycott of future ICC events in India does further damage PCB’s credibility.
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