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Amid the ongoing furore, Afridi has opined that if India can’t travel to play the tournament on Pakistan soil, the PCB should also refrain from sending a team to play fixtures in Indian territory.
Shahid Afridi. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has suggested that PCB should refrain from sending teams to India for cricketing competitions if the neighbouring country chooses to not send its teams across the border for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
BCCI have rejected the possibility of sending the Indian cricket team to Pakistan for the ICC showpiece citing security concerns and the ICC has asked the PCB to accept a hybrid model in which India would play their fixtures in the UAE.
PCB however stand steadfast on their decision to not share the hosting rights for the Champions Trophy.
Amid the ongoing furore, Afridi has opined that if India can’t travel to play the tournament on Pakistan soil, the PCB should also refrain from sending a team to play fixtures in Indian territory.
“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,” he said.
The high-profile event could stand to lose millions of pounds if India opt to pull out of the tournament and the ICC have come to a consensus that the tournament will be held in a hybrid model against the agreement of a similar type of organisation of event up until 2027 in principle.
Afridi has spoken out against the ICC’s decision and has asked the international body to pick a side between cricket and minting money.
“Even the ICC now has to decide whether its responsibility is to ensure every member nation gets to play cricket or it just wants to make money,” he added.
Afridi also spoke about the removal of former T20 skipper and son-in-law Shaheen Shah Afridi opining that the decision to sack the seamer from the leadership role had an adverse effecton the southpaw.
“When Shaheen was made Pakistan T20 captain I was against it and I said that the board should have made Muhammad 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,” he said.
Afridi also reflected on the lack of a good system in place in the country to identify and sharpen talent as a result of ever-changing policies that alter with every change in the chair.
“We have a lot of talent in Pakistan but we also lose so much of this talent because we don’t have a system to identify such players and groom them properly,” he said.
