England Great Tears Into ICC Over India vs Pakistan Games: "Cricket Now Proxy For Propaganda"
India and Pakistan only meet during multilateral tournaments like the World Cups, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, etc.
- Michael Atherton urged ICC not to schedule India-Pakistan matches in the upcoming tournaments
- From handshake snub to 'no-trophy row', the Ind vs Pak matches at Asia Cup saw several controversial moments
- "If cricket was the vehicle for diplomacy, it is now a proxy for broader tensions and for propaganda," he said
Former England skipper Michael Atherton urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) not to schedule matches between India and Pakistan in future tournaments. Both teams set a new bar for their rivalry in the recently concluded Asia Cup, where India became the champions. Playing amid the tensions caused by the Pahalgam terror attack, India faced Pakistan thrice in the Asia Cup, but the continental tournament became an epicenter of controversies. From the handshake snub to the 'no-trophy row', Asia Cup 2025 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
In his column for The Times, Atherton wrote that the ICC should consider the fact that the tensions between India and Pakistan are increasing every day and the matches between the two teams during the ICC events should not be scheduled.
"Despite its scarcity (maybe, in part, because of its scarcity), it is a fixture that carries huge economic clout, one of the main reasons why the broadcast rights for ICC tournaments are worth so much - roughly $3 billion for the most recent rights cycle in 2023-27," he wrote.
"Due to the relative decline in the value of bilateral matches, ICC events have grown in frequency and importance, and so the India and Pakistan fixture is crucial to the balance sheets of those who would not otherwise have any skin in the game," he added.
India and Pakistan only meet during multilateral tournaments like the World Cups, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, etc. The last bilateral series between the arch-rivals was played in 2013. Since 2013, both teams have faced each other in every ICC tournament.
Atherton further stated that the scheduling of the fixtures for every ICC event should be transparent.
"If cricket was once the vehicle for diplomacy, it is now, clearly, a proxy for broader tensions and for propaganda. There is little justification, in any case, for a serious sport to arrange tournament fixtures to suit its economic needs and now that the rivalry is being exploited in other ways, there is even less justification for it," Atherton wrote.
"For the next broadcast rights cycle, the fixture draw before ICC events should be transparent and if the two teams do not meet every time, so be it," he added.
India Cricket Team
Pakistan Cricket Team