Being the richest cricket board globally, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) controls world cricket, Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Patron-in-Chief Imran Khan has said.
In an interview to the Middle East Eye, Khan was asked to comment on the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to pull out of their recent Pakistan tour to which he said that he had seen the evolution of Pakistan-England cricket ties over the years.
“I think that there is still this feeling in England that they do a great favour to play with countries like Pakistan,” he added. “One of the reasons is that, obviously, the money,” Khan said.
Meanwhile, Khan also said that the BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world and so, no other country would dare to do to India what England did to Pakistan.
“Money is a big player now. For the players, as well as for the cricket boards. The money lies in India, so basically, India controls world cricket now. I mean, they do, whatever they say goes. No one would dare do that to India because they know that the sums involved, India can sort of produce much more money,” he opined.
“I think England let itself down,” Khan added.
Recently after New Zealand pulled out at the last minute from its Pakistan tour citing security concerns, the ECB had also scrapped their short tour to Pakistan a couple of days later.
Commenting on their decision, the ECB had said: “We understand that this decision will be a significant disappointment to the PCB, who have worked tirelessly to host the return of international cricket in their country.”
The England’s men and women teams were scheduled to play two T20Is in Rawalpindi on October 13 and 14. The women’s team were also due to play three ODIs in Pakistan on October 17, 19, and 21.
Before England, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) had announced to abandon their Pakistan tour due to security concerns just few minutes before the first of the three ODIs in Rawalpindi.
Later, the PCB had released a statement saying that the NZC was “unilaterally suspending” the tour. On the other hand, Raja warned that the matter will be taken up before the International Cricket Council (ICC) very soon.
While the ODIs were slated to be held at Rawalpindi’s Pindi Cricket Stadium on September 17, 19, and 21, the historic Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore would have had stage the five T20Is between September 25 to October 3.
Notably, the Kiwi cricket team was touring Pakistan after a long gap of 18 years. Earlier, New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan was cut short in 2002 after a bomb explosion outside the team’s hotel in Karachi.
New Zealand had last played an ODI series in Pakistan in 2003.