Broadcasters fear no Indo-Pak clash in the 2019 Cricket World Cup

Pakistan’s poor ODI form has left broadcasting executives worried about the Men in Green’s chances of the qualifying for the 2019 World Cup. The reason about this insecurity – if Pakistan fails to qualify, then it automatically washes out the hope of the high octane Indo-Pak encounter which generates vast sums of money for the television people during every major events.

Earlier this year the International Cricket Council’s chief executive, Dave Richardson, admitted the draws of the major events like Champions Trophy, World T20 and 50-overs World Cup is planned in such way that both the rival nations play against each other in the group stages.

The match between the two countries at the World T20 in March brought in a television audience in India alone of 83 million. It will top a billion worldwide and earn millions of dollars for television companies in advertising revenue, helping the ICC to continually increase the value of its rights deals.

The worrying factor is that Pakistan is currently lying low at No. 9 in the ranking charts and there seems to be no opportunity for them to sneak inside the top 8 (they are 10 points behind eighth-placed West Indies.) before September 30, 2016 –The cut off for automatic qualification for the 2019 Cricket World Cup which is to be held at the home of cricket – England.

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The top eight teams in the rankings qualify directly for the World Cup and the remaining four will play off against the top four of the ICC World Cricket League for the two remaining places in a qualification tournament in Bangladesh in 2018.

If, in case Pakistan fails to qualify, then it might become the first Test playing nation to achieve this unwanted distinction. The decision to chop the number of participating team t just 10 created a bit of controversy as associate nations blames the ICC for denying them opportunities.

They have two series against the West Indies and six matches in Australia, probably the hardest challenge of all, plus the Champions Trophy next year to move up the rankings before the cut off point.

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Pakistan are in ninth after years of underachievement in 50-over cricket. They have only won series against Sri Lanka (twice) and Zimbabwe since December 2013.