Cricket’s big bully

Pakistan is all set to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and, out of the eight teams set to participate in the tournament, only one seems to have a problem with playing in Pakistan. You don’t not even need to follow cricket to guess who this could be. India, having last played in Pakistan back in 2008, is yet to confirm whether its cricket team will indeed travel to Pakistan for the tournament. Rumours are even doing the rounds that a neutral venue or plan B will be prepared for the Indian team’s matches but, officially speaking, all of its games are still set to take place in Lahore. It is important to remember that no concrete concerns have been raised about Pakistan’s ability to host the games and to ensure the safety and security of the visiting teams in general or the Indian cricket team in particular. All of the teams set to participate in 2025 have played games in Pakistan in recent years, barring India of course. The Indian authorities simply seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to allowing their players to come to Pakistan and may ultimately end up saying ‘no’. A senior BCCI official said that the matter is out of his/her institution’s hands and that “sending a team to a foreign country requires the government of India’s permission. So far, we have had dialogues regarding the Champions Trophy. But we haven’t had any positive outcomes”.

Once again, it appears that the bitter diplomatic and political relations between India and Pakistan have cast a shadow over their sporting rivalry, and what ought to be an opportunity to bring people in the neighbouring countries closer together has turned into a source of division and acrimony. And this is not the first time Pakistan has had to face such unfair treatment at the hands of India. The 2023 Asia Cup was moved to a hybrid model after India refused to play games in Pakistan, with both India-Pakistan matches and the final taking place in co-host Sri Lanka instead. Under normal circumstances, if a visiting country has unspecified problems with the host nation, problems not related to security or other specific concerns, it is not the host country’s job to prepare alternative arrangements or agree to let certain games be hosted elsewhere. Sadly, when it comes to cricket, the normal rules do not seem to apply to India and it can use its uncontested revenue-drawing powers to throw its weight around as much as it likes. Or, at least, this is what seems to be playing out.

Given such repeated embarrassments, there have been unverified but not unexpected reports about Pakistan boycotting the 2026 T20 World Cup in India or the next Asia Cup. As tempting as such a retaliation may seem, it will only harm the Pakistan cricket team, one which has already suffered a long period of isolation, unless other countries join in. This seems like a remote prospect. For better or worse, cricket is under Indian hegemony for now and, while this might not be good for the long-term growth of the sport, those in charge of running the game have proven too apathetic or timid to do anything about it.