Pakistan could have allied itself with India and retained its sway by forming a South Asian bloc.
SYDNEY: This is with reference to your editorial of February 11 titled “Monopoly in world cricket”. The changing face of world cricket, due to the Big Three cricket powerhouses gaining control of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is shocking. But, as we all know, everything boils down to the fact that Pakistan has no future in the game without a good business model. India generates 80 per cent of the earnings in world cricket and also runs the highly successful Indian Premier League and hence, has become the most powerful cricketing country in the world.
Pakistan could have allied itself with India and retained its sway by forming a South Asian bloc. This required vision and leadership from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which as it is becoming crystal clear, it lacked miserably. Now we will be no different from cricketing minnows like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The political circumstances and the law and order situation in Pakistan have significantly deteriorated in the past decade, which has contributed to this sorry state of affairs. We, as a country, have adopted a pitiable attitude, demanding favours from the ICC through mere protests while foregoing all our influence over the past decade. This is another cricketing debacle following the lack of international cricket at Pakistani playing venues. We, the cricket lovers of Pakistan, have no choice but to despair.
Imran Ahsan Mirza Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2014.
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