The former captain and spin all-rounder of Pakistan, Shahid Afridi, has reckoned that their team should not make a trip to India even for future ICC events, especially after what has transpired regarding the decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to take place from the second week of February.
A few weeks ago, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wrote to the ICC to inform their decision to refuse travel to Pakistan for security reasons, besides giving the proposal of activating the hybrid model, which would help them in playing their portion of the event outside the host country.
The final schedule announcement is yet to be published by the ICC, as the stakeholders are raising concerns over the development. The PCB has already renovated three of its popular grounds, the National Stadium in Karachi, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, and the Rawalpindi Stadium, for the smooth conduction of the tournament, which is expected to start on February 19.
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Shahid Afridi believes that the PCB should make a strong decision on their cricketing position on the world map and make a relationship with India, besides putting light on Pakistan’s self-dependence in making independent decisions, especially in the upcoming ICC events.
“Pakistan cricket should be strong and self-sufficient and take strong principled decisions. If India can’t come and play in Pakistan, then there is no reason for us to go and play any event in India.” The former all-rounder expressed at the Karachi Arts Council’s Urdu conference.
Shahid Afridi criticizes Pakistan’s decision to remove Shaheen Afridi as captain
India will be hosting a few of the ICC competitions in the next three years, consisting of the Women’s ODI World Cup in 2025, co-hosting the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 with Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup in 2025 just before the 20-over event, the 2029 Champions Trophy, and later co-hosting the Men’s ODI World Cup 2031 with Bangladesh.
The bilateral relationship between the Indian side and Pakistan is not really smooth, with 2012 being the last series in this term between them. The former made their trip to the other side of the border during the 2008 Asia Cup.
The PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, was reluctant not to change the decision at all and remarked that the BCCI should be showing a good gesture towards them because the Green Brigade, making a tour to India for last year’s ODI World Cup despite Rohit Sharma-led side playing the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
Afridi believes that PCB’s stance on the Champions Trophy is justified because India refuses to play in Pakistan. This, however, in the end, has resulted in delaying the announcement of the dates and venues. He also addressed that their cricket’s main issue is inconsistent policies due to the change of chairman of PCB chairman.
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“When Shaheen was made Pakistan T20 captain, I was against it, and I said that the board should have made Mohammad Rizwan the captain as he was the best choice. But once they made Shaheen captain, it was also wrong for the PCB to remove him as captain after just one series. It affected him.” The veteran addressed.
Even though the 44-year-old disagreed with the decision of giving Afridi the leadership favoring Rizwan, he criticized the move of PCB to remove the left-arm pacer from the position after just one series, as it impacted negatively on the young bowler.
“We have a lot of talent in Pakistan but we also lose too much of this talent because we don’t have a system to identify such players and groom them properly.” He concluded.