It’s time someone in world cricket stood up to India
October 16, 2024 12:25 pm(Updated 9:58 pm)
MULTAN — The prospect of next year’s Champions Trophy being played entirely in Pakistan receded with every word that came out of the mouths of the England & Wales Cricket Board’s chairman and chief executive.
The two Richards – Thompson and Gould – are in town this week for England’s second Test in Multan and have held talks with their opposite numbers at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Gould, pressed into action by a story in Monday’s i, has already assuaged fears of travelling fans by getting guarantees from the PCB that the third Test of this series will not be moved to Multan from Rawalpindi, where there is a likelihood of political protests from Friday.
The same cannot be said of the first major tournament to be held on Pakistani soil since the 1996 World Cup. Okay, the Champions Trophy, not played since 2017, is a poor man’s World Cup. But for Pakistan this will be a huge moment.
The problem is, India won’t travel. You don’t need me to explain the geopolitical situation between the two countries.
But the fact is India haven’t crossed the border to play their near neighbours since 2008. It won’t change anytime soon either, not with the right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi in power in Delhi.
This is a country, remember, who held up the approval of England’s Shoaib Bashir’s visa by such a length of time he missed the first Test against India back in January as he wasn’t even able to enter the country. All because he has Pakistani heritage.
Nobody has actually confirmed India won’t be travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy yet. But the fact we are still waiting for the tournament schedule just four months before it is meant to start in mid-February says it all.
Not that the urgency of the situation has quite registered with the ECB just yet. Thompson, seemingly unaware when the tournament is starting, said: “We are still six months away from it. Six months is still a relatively long time. So I think they’ll find a way.”
Find a way is a euphemism for strong-arming Pakistan into accepting India playing all their games in the United Arab Emirates. There have already been reports the International Cricket Council, who organise major tournaments, is making contingencies for the final to be played either in Lahore or Dubai, depending on whether India qualify. A ridiculous situation.
You will remember that Pakistan travelled to India for last year’s 50-over World Cup. It seems inevitable the favour will not be returned.
“They are the host nation,” Gould said of Pakistan. “We’ve seen the developments going on, and we’re all waiting to understand whether India are going to travel. That’s the key. I know Pakistan are expecting India to travel. There are lots of different alternatives and contingencies available if that doesn’t happen.”
But would the ECB be prepared to put pressure on India by suggesting to the ICC that the tournament goes ahead without world cricket’s most powerful nation if they refuse to travel?
“Without India?!” was Gould’s startled reply. “I wouldn’t have thought so, because if you play the Champions Trophy without India or Pakistan, the broadcast rights aren’t there, and we need to protect them. There are a variety of different options available if those circumstances [India refusing to travel to Pakistan] come along. Hopefully we can have the fullest possible competition in Pakistan. If that’s not possible, we know there are options available.”
It’s not really Gould or Thompson’s fault they are powerless to stand in the way of India’s domination of the sport. The ECB is only as supine as the rest, including Australia. Collective action – the other seven nations taking part refusing to play if India snub Pakistan – would be a start.
But as Gould pointed out when talking about broadcast rights – there would be a price to pay for a principled stand.
Asked how England and Australia could apply pressure on India about all this, Gould said: “It’s interesting with Jay Shah, the former secretary of the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] and now chair of the ICC. He is going to have a big role to play in that. There’s geopolitics and then there’s cricketing geopolitics.
“I think they’ll find a way [to keep India in the tournament]. They have to find a way. There are always security concerns in this part of the world when those two countries play each other.
“That will probably drive the key decisions. But I know relationships between the two countries are as amicable as they can be at the moment. It would not be in cricket’s interests for India not to be playing in the Champions Trophy.”
Security concerns and the prospect of Pakistan not completing all the ongoing renovation works on their stadiums may well be the two fig leaves that save the ICC face when it comes to explaining why the whole tournament is not taking place in Pakistan. It may take a while though to get to that point.
Meanwhile, the fans, as ever, are left in the dark. It’s all so predictable and depressing.
