PCB will be better off talking things out quietly with ICC and BCCI, and wangle for itself the best outcome it can.
CHICAGO: This is apropos the article “Just not cricket” by Mohammad A Qayyum published on January 21. Being an Indian, I agree that that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is a big bully. It has even filed affidavits in Indian courts that it is a private body having nothing to do with the government of India. Technically, therefore, it cannot call the national team an Indian team. It should legally classify its teams as the BCCI XI rather than the Indian XI.
In the material world we live in, the financially strong flex their muscles. Like the saying goes, he who pays the Piper, calls the tune. This is happening in all fields everywhere and has nothing to do with sport. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has to handle the issue of the powerful three cricket boards — the BCCI, the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia — trying to take over most of the power at the International Cricket Council (ICC) very carefully. If it tries to rally other cricketing nations openly to oppose these moves, it could harm itself. The PCB will be better off talking things out quietly with the ICC and the BCCI, and wangle for itself the best outcome it can. In money matters, it is always advisable not to let ego and pride influence the outcome.
Feroz Daruwala
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2014.
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