Fact: India is the “money mint’ of world cricket. Fact: As the money mint, India can afford not to play Pakistan in bilateral series. Fact: The biggest money spinners in multilateral tournaments are India-Pakistan face-offs.
With that context out there, what is one to make of the googly thrown by BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Jay Shah after the Indian cricket board’s AGM Tuesday? Shah stated that the 2023 Asia Cup, which has been awarded to Pakistan under his watch, will be played at a neutral venue. Shah’s comments are even more curious as there was no real need to raise regional temperatures at a time when the T20 World Cup is in play in Australia and pretty much everyone concerned is hyping up Sunday’s upcoming India-Pakistan group stage clash.
Additionally, it bears noting that the matter of India playing the Asia Cup in Pakistan was stated in the notes circulated to the BCCI members BEFORE Tuesday’s AGM in Mumbai. Not to mention the fact that the Asia Cup is still nearly a year away (September 2023).
For the record, the hosting rights of the 2023 edition of the 50-over Asia Cup has been awarded to Pakistan by the ACC as a pre-cursor to the marquee ICC World Cup in India.
The Pakistan Cricket Board was more considered in its official reaction to Shah’s “unilateral” comments, noting that they “were made without any discussion or consultation with the board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board (event host) and without any thoughts towards their long-term consequences and implications”.
The PCB further declared that it had “written to the Asian Cricket Council to convene an emergency meeting of its board as soon as practically possible on this important and sensitive matter”.
The operative part of the PCB’s riposte was two-fold. First that the “statements have the potential to split the Asian and international cricketing communities” and second and more crucially that it could impact Pakistan’s participation in next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup as well as future ICC events in the 2024-2031 cycle where India is the host nation.
In a related development, Pakistan’s Geo TV, quoting top sources, reports that the PCB is considering dissociating itself from the ACC. “PCB is looking at different options, among them, one is the possibility of parting ways with the ACC,” said sources told the news outlet.
“ACC is responsible to safeguard the interest of member nations. If they fail to do so, there is no point in remaining with them,” the sources further stated.
On the matter of pulling out of the ACC, the PCB is on a strong wicket, as any “Asian championship” without Pakistan will at its core be nothing more than a glorified tri-series featuring India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
ICC events are another kettle of fish altogether however. Not only will the PCB stand to lose on revenue share doled out to member boards by the ICC, they will in all likelihood have to forget hosting any ICC event in the near future.
