The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has continuously upped the ante over the last week. With the logjam showing no signs of easing just yet, this is all set to continue until the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) finally takes a call on the second hybrid-hosting model proposed by the PCB in Dubai last week.
PCB sources say that they already have the support of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for their second proposal, and it is now on India’s Jay Shah, as the ACC boss, to call a meeting and decide on the way forward.
And if the ACC under Shah isn’t agreeable, PCB will in all likelihood go ahead and pull out of the Asia Cup. And then the World Cup, to be hosted by India, as well. With the PCB confident of getting government support on the issue, it would also mean that the International Cricket Council (ICC) would find it difficult to demand any compensation for breach of contract.
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The PCB under Najam Sethi has played its cards well. Knowing that close to 80 percent of Asia Cup revenue comes from the India-Pakistan clashes (there are two schedule in the group stage, with a possible third in the final), it is banking on pressure from the broadcaster as well to convince the ACC to accept its second hybrid model. Once that happens, the World Cup logjam could also get cleared.
No one at the ICC is willing to come on record on the matter. And while Sethi is on an interview-giving spree, he knows that the next couple of weeks are critical to get past the logjam. With Shah all set to convene an ACC meeting in the next few days to find a solution, the pressure from the PCB is set to increase. Its latest threat, to pull out of a scheduled tour of Sri Lanka, is yet another step in the same direction.
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So, what is likely? Who will blink first? Will sport lose ground to political considerations, or will administrators rise up, safeguard cricket’s interests and find a solution to the logjam? There aren’t any definitive answers just yet. All eyes will be on the ACC meeting, and what comes out of it.