Rama Krishna Sangem
On day when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman her union budget for 2025-27, Pakistan bowled a googly – of boycotting ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match with India on February 15 to be played in Sri Lanka. Sunday, February 1, Pakistan once again showed how much India plays on their mind.
Of course, the decision will hurt us, more Pakistan will be more, both in terms of money and game. But its military leadership is least bothered about it. They want to win over a bigger pie, Islamic elements in Bangladesh which is going to polls this summer. They wan to display their Islamic brotherhood and bonding before the world. Now Pakistan is not in a mood to care for cricket, or India.
One expected the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to continue with the theatrics, given how the chief, Mohsin Naqvi, ramped up his charges against the International Cricket Council (ICC). Ever since Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland in the T20 World Cup following the former’s refusal to travel to India due to security concerns, Pakistan felt aggrieved, even more than Bangladesh. Please make it make sense, said a story in Hindustan Times.
Pakistan might have wanted to hurt the BCCI and ICC by boycotting the fixture against India. Yes, everyone involved is slated to incur losses as the match between the two rivals has always been a major cash cow. But just to win a minor battle, Pakistan are perhaps once again losing sight of the bigger picture, and they might end up conceding the war, said the story.
Still there’s time
The ICC has given Pakistan time to ponder over its decision, but by now the world knows the apex body wouldn’t shy away from taking the call, as proven earlier when Bangladesh was shown the door after trying to play hardball.
The ICC’s annual revenue is estimated at USD 500-600 million. From the annual income, the bulk of the share goes to India, as everyone knows. Pakistan gets almost 6-7 per cent of the share, which goes up to USD 36 million. According to previously published data, Pakistan doesn’t earn more than USD 60 million annually; hence, the bulk of the share has come from the ICC.
What next?
What happens if the ICC decides to snap it all up? One doesn’t need to be a scientist to figure that out. In trying to hurt India or the ICC, Pakistan are simply shooting itself in the foot; the case cannot be simpler than that. They will lose money, reputation and importantly the game of cricket, a hard-earned soft power, said the story.
But winning Bangladesh and its hardliner Islamic elements is all the moret important to Pakistani military leadership. Its political leadership is just helpless as of now.