If Pakistan doesn't take part in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? : Ramiz Raja

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman  Ramiz Raja has challenged that no cricket fan would be interested in watching the next year’s ODI World Cup if there is no India-Pakistan rivalry. Raja’s remarks have come in retaliation to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah’s statement of moving the Asia Cup 2023 from Pakistan.

Jay Shah’s statement did not go down well with some of the former players from the neighboring country and he was criticized by the likes of Saeed Anwar, Salman Butt, and Shahid Afridi, among others. Meanwhile, PCB had also earlier threatened to pull out of the 2023 World Cup.  

Pakistan have done well as a unit of late especially in the T20 format. They ran England close in the seven-match T20I series at home leading into the World Cup. And won the tri-series that was organised in New Zealand by defeating the hosts in the final. Bangladesh were the third participants in the series.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who was criticised after Pakistan lost to Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup Super 12 stage, fought back strongly and led his team to the final of the event.

We will adopt an aggressive approach: Ramiz Raja

“If Pakistan doesn't take part in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? We have a clear stand: If the Indian team comes here (for the next Asia Cup) then we will go for the World Cup. If they don't come then they can play the World Cup without us. We will adopt an aggressive approach. Our team is showing performance,” said Ramiz Raja while speaking to Urdu News.

“I've always said we need to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket, and that can only happen when we perform well. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, we beat India. We beat India in the T20 Asia Cup. In one year, the Pakistan cricket team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice,” he said.

Apart from next year’s 50-over Asia Cup, Pakistan are also scheduled to host the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. They would be defending the title that they had won against arch-rivals India in 2017 by a humongous margin of 180 runs.

However, it now remains to be seen whether Pakistan will refrain from participating in the next year’s ODI World Cup or will they have to adhere to the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s policies and guidelines and follow the process accordingly.

After the 2019 World Cup, Pakistan have been a much-improved team in multi-nation tournaments. They made the semis of the last year’s T20 World Cup and finished as the runners-up in this year’s Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.