Should Pakistan Boycott Cricket World Cup 2011?

This question has been debated since ICC announced that Pakistan will not be hosting the allocated matches of world cup 2011 due to security reasons. The decision was made without any investigation from ICC. There wasn’t any kind of official visit of the country to examine the security measures. So it has been said that the decision has been taken in a hurry or I might say it was the strong lobby of BCCI and Indian press. Soon after the decision Indian papers place headlines that Pakistan may boycott world cup 2011 matches if it stays in India, to create a negative image for our cricket.

Pakistan cricket legend Zaheer Abbas asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to boycott the 2011 World Cup if it is held in the rest of the sub-continent.

“It’s time that Pakistan cricket breaks its silence over what’s been happening against it in recent times,” said Zaheer. “The ICC took away the Champions Trophy and now it has deprived us of the World Cup. What else should happen before we broke our silence,” he lamented.

On the other hand if we decided to boycott than it will be much more difficult for us in the near future, but a protest must be made from our side to let them know our concerns. PCB is in financial crisis and if ICC ditched Pakistan as World Cup host then it would be fatal for it. There would be no money for our future cricket.

The daring step is that PCB has served a legal notice to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over their decision to shift the 2011 World Cup matches out of the country due to security reasons.

PCB chairman Ejaz Butt said a legal notice was sent to the ICC today in protest against the decision and said if security was the reason for moving the World Cup matches out of Pakistan, then it was no better in Sri Lanka and India.

“We didn’t want to and don’t want to give useless statements on losing the World Cup matches. But I think our sending the ICC a legal notice is our way of protesting against this decision,” Butt told a news conference in Lahore.

“The ICC’s decision to shift the matches was not correct in legal terms. And we have also approached the Court of Arbitration for Sports seeking justice,” Butt said

In my opinion the protest has been made through proper channel and whatever the result would be we should play the WC matches with eagerness and passion to win it. PCB has enough time to strengthen the team. Players can wear black band through out the matches so that the whole world could witness our protest in a civilized manner & if we made to win the event it would be icing on the cake.

Image: RockGamer

IPL & World Cup 2011

IPL Teams

The IPL declared a gross income of Rs 645 crore in its inaugural year and a profit of Rs 51 crore after handing over the dues to the franchises and the state associations.The eight franchises paid between $67 million and $111.9 million to own teams for a ten-year period, and the league plans to have three more teams from 2011. The team owners are entitled to 80 per cent of the television rights revenue, which amounted to Rs 236 crore in the first year minus production costs, and 60 per cent of the sponsorship revenues, which netted Rs 117 crore in the first year.

Such a huge profitable event cant be so easily moved outside India. Various other factors are responsible for its new venue. The general elections are proceeding in India due to which IPL officials are forced to host the event in South Africa. well in my own opinion it was not the election issue actually it was their fear of losing world cup matches and future of cricket in India. They knew that something like 3/3 attacks could also happen in India and if it does during IPL when a lot of international cricketers are there, it would be fatal for Indian cricket.

Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal said on March 18, security risks cannot be taken for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Twenty20 tournament after the audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan March 3.

“Keeping in view what happened in Pakistan, we need to have more security and I don’t think we can take this risk as IPL matches are coinciding with general elections. It is difficult for us to cater for matches,” the police commissioner said.

Around 400 players and officials got visas and accommodation in South Africa over night and IPL begins there so easily. I had to borrow words from Mr. Hamid Abbasi, it is The Great Game of Cricket by India to shift the event so that all possibilities of any kind of mishap or terrorist activity abolish and they have the chance to be in the great game of cricket. Also this decision favours them and they got 29 world cup matches out of 49 including those which had to be hosted by Pakistan previously. The income which has been lost from IPL can easily be recovered from world cup 2011.

Pakistan were stripped of its rights as co-host of the 2011 World Cup by the ICC on 17th April, 2009 due to ongoing concerns about the “uncertain security situation” prevailing in the country, especially in the aftermath of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.It is estimated that the PCB will lose $10.5 million due to the tournament being taken away from them.This figure only includes the match-fee of $750,000 per match guaranteed by the ICC. The overall loss to the PCB and the Pakistani economy is expected to be much greater.

Pakistan made the bid to host its home games in the cities of UAE as a neutral home venue. This is in response to the fact that the last few months of cricket that Pakistan has played, has been in the cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The pitches in these stadia have also been developed to suit the Pakistani players. This would not harm any timing schedules as their are regular flights from the city of Mumbai to Dubai. However, on the 28th of April 2009, the ICC announced the re-allocation of matches originally intended to be played in Pakistan. As a result, India will now host 29 matches across eight venues including the final and one semi-final; Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues, including one semi-final; while Bangladesh will stage eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on February 18, 2011.

All is fair for India in Cricket and war.