Pakistan’s U-turn no surprise, but cricket might pay a price in future

Now that Pakistan have taken the expected U-turn and are playing India on Sunday in the World T20, it might be tempting to declare that all’s well that ends well. But the realisation that yet another country can resort to blackmailing the International Cricket Council may not be such good news for the sport. Bangladesh, dropped from the tournament, probably got the most from the negotiations, but administrators have long memories and there is no telling who gets their comeuppance from whom.

In 2012, the Woolf Report — commissioned by the ICC and mostly ignored — said that “Cricket is a great game. It deserves to have governance, including management and ethics, worthy of the sport. This is not the position at the present time.” Nor is it at this present time.

Governing bodies of international sports have to understand diplomacy and not allow a problem to fester till it teeters on the brink of unsolvability as national pride and personal egos enter the mix.

Money matters

In the end, money decided. Pakistan took the pragmatic view, choosing not to lose the millions they would have had the match not gone ahead. Politicians also saw it as a way to impress their domestic audience by temporarily standing up to a giant. It was one of those situations where they knew that others knew that we knew that they knew that in the end the match would be played.

“The decision (to play India) has been taken with the aim of protecting the spirit of cricket…” read the Pakistan government statement. To coat inevitability in the colours of ‘sporting spirit’ might be a political necessity, but it fools no one. Whether there were back channel efforts or not, officially India sat back and let the events unfold themselves, leaving it to the ICC to sort out the mess in their own tournament.

Both Pakistan and Bangladesh pushed the ICC to see how far it would go. They know that bilateral series are decided by the respective cricket boards, but Pakistan asked the ICC for a series with India and a tri-series with Bangladesh. The ICC cannot interfere, and these were denied.

But Bangladesh made sure they would face no penalty for refusing to play in India, and would be granted a compensatory global tournament (perhaps the Under-19 World Cup) to boot. In any case, they are scheduled to co-host the 2031 World Cup (50-over) with India.

It will be interesting to see how many items in the wish list actually happen when this kerfuffle is forgotten. There might well be unwritten and unpublicised agreements among the boards we know nothing about. This is the way of cricket administration.

Now that Pakistan have realised just how important they are to cricket’s eco system, and how crucial they are to the television rights based on their playing India a certain number of times in a single cycle, we might see more muscle flexing in future.

Coming at a cost

For the moment the T20 World Cup has been revived. But it might have come at a cost. The ICC is already bracing for a 30% cut in revenue when media contracts come up for renewal next year. Unpredictability works against stability as economies around the world have discovered. The top three countries, India, England and Australia do not depend on the ICC alone for their revenue. But it is crucial for other countries.

Corporates who own franchises tend to be more professional even if focused on the bottom line, and not on development. Unpredictability in the mainstream is an invitation to franchise cricket to take over.

That politicians from Pakistan and Bangladesh and hosts Sri Lanka influenced the decision-making while ostensibly the negotiations involved the ICC, Pakistan Cricket Board and Bangladesh Cricket Board does not bode well for the game. Although the Indian government was not involved directly, the fact remains that Asian cricket is beholden to the politicians.

It was strange to hear Mohsin Naqvi, chairman of the PCB say, “… everyone knows our Field Marshall (Asim Munir).” Sounds a bit like “my father can whup your father…” He should read the Woolf Report.

Now only one question remains. Will the Indian skipper shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart at the toss?