Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali has strongly criticized India’s reported reluctance to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. Notably, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is unlikely to send its team to Pakistan for the ICC event scheduled to be held next year due to the uncordial political relations between the two countries.
Speaking about India’s dominance in the ICC (International Cricket Council), Basit claimed that all the countries are just puppets of BCCI and will do whatever the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah says. The 53-year-old further said that PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi is being appeased with the proposal of a bilateral series against India as the Men in Blue are unlikely to travel to the country.
“5-6 boards jo haina dum hilate huye woh baat karenge jo Jay Shah bolenge (Those 5-6 boards just follow whatever Jay Shah says). PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has been given a lollipop. Basically, he’s been told (by other boards) that after the Champions Trophy, we (Pakistan) should play a bilateral series against India. Whether it’s in Australia or England, they’ll (other boards) convince India to play,” said Basit on his Youtube Channel.
Further speaking ahead, Basit stated that the money power of the BCCI helps them make every cricket board speak in their favour.
“If he says the Champions Trophy will be in Pakistan, they’ll agree. If he says it’ll be a hybrid model, they’ll go with that too. It’s because when their players play in the IPL, BCCI pays their boards a huge amount whether it’s the English board, New Zealand board, West Indies board, or Australian board,” Ali stated.
Notably, India and Pakistan last played a bilateral series in 2012-13 in India and haven’t held any bilateral series since then with their political relations in turmoil. Hence, India are unlikely to travel to Pakistan for the mega event set to be held next year.
Earlier, the Asia Cup 2023 was co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka after India refused to travel to the country. The upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is also expected to follow the same path with either of Sri Lanka and UAE chipping in as co-hosts to host India’s matches.
As per the draft schedule submitted to ICC, Pakistan have scheduled all of India’s games in Lahore. However, the schedule is likely to be changed after India give their official word on their reluctance to travel to the country.
