On Saturday, Mohsin Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chair, cast doubt on Pakistan’s participation at the upcoming T20 World Cup. “Our stance (regarding World Cup participation) will be what the government of Pakistan instructs me,” he told reporters. “The Prime Minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns, I will be able to give you our final decision. It’s the government’s decision. We obey them, not the ICC.”
Until yesterday, rumours were floating around. Naqvi made the PCB’s stand official in the wake of the ICC’s decision to replace Bangladesh with Scotland at the T20 World Cup. And when the head of a cricket board says something like this in public, you have to take it seriously.
The PCB did vote in favour of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) at the ICC Board when the proposal to change the World Cup schedule was put to the vote. The Board decided via a 14-2 majority that the schedule would remain unaltered, asking Bangladesh to play their matches in India as per the itinerary. The BCB refused to budge and Bangladesh are out of the World Cup that is starting on February 7.
On Saturday, Naqvi also accused the ICC of double standards. “I think Bangladesh have been hard done by,” he said. “You can’t have double standards. You can’t say for one country (read, India) they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite. That’s why we have taken this stand, and made clear Bangladesh have had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup, they are a major stakeholder in cricket.”
The problem is that even a section of Pakistan cricket is not too convinced that the PCB has valid reasons to boycott the World Cup. “To start with, you aren’t playing in India as per the agreement between the two countries that their matches at the ICC events would be held at a neutral venue,” said a source in the know. “You can’t say you have security threats in Sri Lanka. So on what ground will you pull out of the tournament? Also, doing so might sour the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”
Still, if the PCB puts its foot down and boycotts the World Cup, Pakistan would run the risk of being ostracised in world cricket. The decision to go ahead with the existing T20 World Cup schedule is not an arbitrary one. It has been taken by the ICC Board and it is learnt that Pakistan’s refusal to participate in the World Cup might see the majority of the ICC Full Members go against them.
The bilateral tours could be affected. Also, there’s the small matter of NOCs given to the foreign players by their respective boards for the Pakistan Super League. The PSL also requires the ICC’s approval to be a legitimate tournament.
For More Exciting Articles: Follow RevSportz
