World cricket chiefs need to show some spine. And it’s Mohsin Naqvi’s job to convince them

Monday, November 11 2024. It should have been a day of celebration for Pakistan cricket. After all, today marks the ‘100 days to go’ milestone for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, a tournament that Pakistan is supposed to host from February 19-March 9.

But instead of hosting celebratory events to mark the occasion, Pakistan’s cricket officials were looking for ways and means to ensure that the Champions Trophy, the first ICC event to be played on Pakistani soil in almost three decades, will be held in the country, in its entirety.

However, at the moment, it seems that they are fighting a battle they are doomed to lose.

That’s because India has refused to send its team to Pakistan for the elite eight-nation tournament.

India's T20 World Cup winning squad with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in 2024.AFP

The move is unsurprising though the international cricket community was hoping against hope that somehow the Indians will show some flexibility.

Well, they haven’t.

Now what?

India has finally played its card. The Indian cricket board (BCCI) stayed silent for weeks on whether it would send its team to Pakistan. It has finally informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the decision. ICC has relayed the message to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Pakistan’s cricket chiefs have informed their government about it and are now awaiting further orders.

From where I see it, delaying things won’t serve Pakistan’s interests.

It’s time to act because the clock is ticking.

Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB chairman, also happens to be the country’s interior minister. He represents the Pakistani government. He knows what the people in the corridors of power are thinking. After all he is one of them.

Naqvi's greatest test

When he was handpicked by the government and installed as the country’s cricket chief early this year, Naqvi’s supporters argued that he is the right choice considering his vast political influence. He was soon appointed as the interior minister, making him perhaps the most powerful PCB chairman ever.

The Champions Trophy issue is Naqvi’s greatest test.

I didn’t agree with his supporters when they said he was the right choice to take over as PCB chairman. After all, he had little or no cricketing background and came across as somebody who just happened to be in the good books of the decision-makers. In a nutshell, as pure a political appointee as they come.

But I would agree with his supporters if he, somehow, manages to pull this one off.

Jay Shah, the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India secretary, and Zaka Ashraf, former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), met on the sidelines of an International Council (ICC) meeting in Durban, South Africa in 2023.PCB

Can Naqvi succeed where his predecessors failed? For the sake of Pakistan cricket, he will have to.

But is it possible to beat India, cricket’s financial behemoth, at its own game?

Moral high ground

The BCCI seems to be holding all the cards. The cash-rich body runs roughshod over its counterparts and, to a very large extent, has the influence to run international cricket at its will. There are fears that even boards representing cricketing superpowers like Australia and England are sometimes mere pawns in the hands of the BCCI.

Pakistan’s best asset, it seems, is the moral high ground it currently occupies.

The country, one of the important members of the world cricket family, hasn’t hosted an ICC tournament since 1996.

Hosting a successful Champions Trophy is going to be a huge and monumental achievement. It would also help them earn the much-needed millions required to run the sport in a professional manner. The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the renovations of stadiums in Lahore and Karachi.

In the recent past, Pakistan has hosted all top-tier teams except for India.

Though the Indians are yet to give a reason for their refusal, their only excuse could be security. But if teams like Australia and England can feel safe here then why can’t India?

Pakistan needs to fight its case unlike the past when it buckled under pressure.

It cannot and should not agree to the so-called hybrid option. So far, Naqvi is sticking to his guns. But so did the likes of Najam Sethi, who initially warned of a tit-for-tat response after India’s refusal to play last year’s Asia Cup only to succumb later. We all know how did that go for Pakistan.

Former PCB chairman Najam Sethi with the ICC Chairman Greg Barclay and Chief Executive Geoff Allardice at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in 2023.PCB

The problem with Pakistan is that sitting pretty on high moral ground won’t be enough. It will need to show other boards that international cricket won’t be the same if they did not come forward in PCB’s support.

Enough is enough

Pakistan might not have the might of BCCI but it is still a major cricketing force, something we all witnessed when it came back from behind to beat England at home and Australia in Australia.

World cricket won’t be the same if Pakistan comes up and says: Enough is enough.

It should tell the world that if India doesn’t play in Pakistan, the Pakistanis will not play in India.

This message needs to be sent out, loud and clear.

It might have huge repercussions for Pakistan but what’s the alternative?

Unless India softens its rigid stance, Pakistan will never be able to host major events like the World Cup or the Champions Trophy. In fact, not even the lowly Asia Cup.

Pakistan players stand during the national anthems as the 2022 Asia Cup trophy is displayed before the final against Sri Lanka in Dubai.Reuters

Years of good, positive gestures like playing a bilateral series in India or sending the Pakistan team for last year’s World Cup there have yielded no results.

So, if there ever was a time to show some spine, it is now. Will Naqvi be able to do it. We will see.

But it is not just Pakistan that needs to show spine. It’s the entire world cricket fraternity. It’s the ICC, it’s the cricket boards of countries like England, Australia, South Africa etc.

They have to stop acting as if world cricket is governed by the law of the jungle and that might is always right.

It’s not just that by standing up to India they will be supporting Pakistan. They will also be fighting their own case. Because they could be next. And they will be because unless India is tamed what is happening with Pakistan could happen with others.