Shahid Afridi has backed Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) stand for ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He said that if India cannot come to play in its own country, there is no point in Pakistan going to play there. .
Indian National Cricket Team has refused to visit Pakistan for ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Citing the security threat, they asked for the tournament to be played in a hybrid model with the Indian games to be held in the United Arab Emirates.
The PCB has agreed to adopt a hybrid mode for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, but has fulfilled four demands
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to adopt the hybrid model after pressure from the ICC. However, they have retained four demands before the ICC and BCCI as compensation, delaying the final decision on the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, with the start of the tournament.
One of the demands maintained by the Pakistan Cricket Board is that all ICC events in India should be played in the Hybrid format. This is because they believe that the Men in Blue do not want to visit India unless they want to come to Pakistan to play in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Pakistan cricket needs to be strong and self-sufficient and take strong principled decisions – Shahid Afridi sees no reason for Pakistan to go to India
Shahid Afridi believes that Pakistan Cricket must be strong and self-sufficient. He batted for the Pakistan team, not traveling to India for ICC events. He added that the ball is now in the ICC court to decide. Speaking at an Urdu conference at the Karachi Arts Council, he said:
“Pakistan cricket needs to be strong and self-sufficient and take strong principled decisions. If India can’t come and play in Pakistan, there is no reason for us to go to India and host any event.”
“Even the ICC now has to decide whether its responsibility is to ensure that every member nation plays cricket or it just wants to make money.”
We don’t have a system to identify and groom players properly – Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi also talked about the biggest problem in Pakistan Cricket. He said that the policy of the team changes with each new chairman. Shahin explained by citing Afridi as an example:
“When Shaheen was appointed Pakistan T20 captain, I was against it and said that the board should have appointed Mohammad Rizwa as the captain because he was the best choice. But after making Shaheen the captain, it was also a mistake for the PCB to drop him after just one series. It affected him.”
Shahid Afridi also mentioned that Pakistan does not have a system to identify and nurture young players properly. He added:
“We have a lot of talent in Pakistan but we are also losing that talent because we don’t have a system to identify such players and nurture them properly.”
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