NEW DELHI: Former captain Shahid Afridi has suggested that Pakistan should not participate in cricket events in India, even ICC tournaments.
The Afridi remark comes amid India’s refusal to play the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, which takes place in January-March next year.
Afridi believes the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) needs to take a stronger position in its cricketing relationship with India, emphasising the importance of country’s self-reliance in making independent decisions, particularly concerning 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,” Afridi said at the Karachi Arts Council’s Urdu conference.
India earlier declined to play its Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan, proposing a ‘hybrid model’ instead. The model would allow India to play its matches at a neutral venue.
It has been learnt that a consensus has been reached on using this hybrid model for the Champions Trophy. This will allow India to play its matches in Dubai, with a similar arrangement potentially extending to multilateral events through 2027. However an official announcement is yet to be made.
Afridi believes the PCB’s stance on the Champions Trophy is justified, given India’s refusal to play in Pakistan. This has resulted in delays in announcing the schedule and venues.
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, whose daughter is married to fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, feels that Pakistan cricket’s main issue is inconsistent policies due to changing PCB chairmen.
“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 highlighted the case of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s captaincy. He initially disagreed with Shaheen’s appointment as T20 captain, favoring Mohammad Rizwan. However, he also criticized the PCB for removing Shaheen after a single series, believing it negatively impacted the young bowler.
Afridi also has high hopes for young batsman Saim Ayub’s performance across all formats. He also pointed out a systemic flaw in Pakistan cricket: the failure to nurture talented players.
“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.
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