The Asia Cup was to be the region’s only multi-team tournament
As it was reported, not many people on the International Cricket Council (ICC) agreed with the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) request to have a four-nation tournament every year with the four teams from Pakistan (India), Australia, and England).
At the International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting in Dubai on Sunday, April 10, 2022, Ramiz Raja, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), offered the proposal and laid out a thorough plan for it.
As per the learning, although a few boards were supportive of the proposal, the vast majority were against it, according to their sources. Although Ramiz Raja talked for an extended period, the majority of board members agreed that it was critical for boards to place more emphasis on bilateral commitment.
It’s not going to happen, one ICC member said. The Asian Cricket Council members “would simply not agree to the four-nation competition.”
While this was going on, other boards that were not included in the proposal expressed dissatisfaction with the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to proceed with the tournament without them. In addition, it was tough to find time in the already-crammed schedule.
“At the same time, the FTP is extremely strict, making it difficult to enter into a new competition at this point,” the member said. A few newspapers conducted an interview with Ramiz Raja before the ICC event. Raja said that he was not suggesting the idea as Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief, but as an ICC Board member, and the idea isn’t coming from the Pakistan Cricket Board
itself. “It is not Us vs. Them, but rather Us versus Us.” says Raja. According to him, the T20 World Cup, which took place in 2007 was the “last great concept”, and nothing new has occurred since then.
Citing Rugby as a precedent Raja expressed hope that the board treats his proposal as a cricketing concept rather than a political issue. Post India’s decision to not play with Pakistan until terrorist acts are stopped, bilateral cricket has come to a complete halt. However, India does compete against Pakistan in International Cricket Council (ICC) matches.
A little later in the day, PCB chairman Raja tweeted, “Excellent conversation about the 4 Nations series today at the International Cricket Council meeting.” He mentioned that as an idea, it was well-received and debated, and was also regarded as a means of increasing interest in the game. “Fingers crossed. More when I am back at the office tomorrow,” his tweet read.
It has been stated that the decision of whether or not to allow women to participate in test matches is up to the member team’s discretion. While they have conducted pink-ball tests, a team like India does not have a schedule of women’s test matches scheduled. The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced in a news release that it has given ODI status to several associate members.
Following the decision to increase the number of teams in the ICC Women’s Championship to 10, the ICC Board agreed to a recommendation that ODI status is given to several Associate Member women’s teams so that they could compete with the global teams of professionals for the World Cup based on ODI rankings.
Men’s Cricket Committee suggested that when travel restrictions are eased, more neutral match officials should be used. This would build on the success of using local umpires in the past.
As part of the recent appointment to the International Cricket Council’s cricket committee, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s Secretary, Jay Shah, has been inducted into the committee. The new appointees also include former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, who has been reappointed as a former player. This year’s panel includes New Zealand head coach Gary Stead, ICC Elite Panel umpire Joel Wilson, and MCC representative Jamie Cox, among other people.
Published by Diwakar Kumar
Edited by: Aaradhana Singh
