LAHORE: It was a quiet Sunday, the buzzing trophy buffer for its absence in Lahore. The last alignment of four four had been confirmed; The scenario reached that any tournament in any sport develops towards its crescendo.
Any emotion, if any, was discreet, impossible to do so. The acquisition of India of the First International Tournament of the Cricket Council in Pakistan in almost three decades was completed.
Pakistan remained the pieces, now he has to start again in his attempt to inject enthusiasm in the tournament. On Sunday, none of the semifinalist teams was in the country. Everyone was in Dubai, with South Africa and Australia flying there just to learn their destiny, whether they stay to play their semifinal against India or if they will fly back to Pakistan. For a team it was going to be a meaningless trip.
It shouldn’t have been so, not if the schedule was done by merit. Instead, it was made in the whims of India.
After refusing to travel to Pakistan, and force through a hybrid agreement that will work for both parties in the future, India, as in all ICC tournaments, I wanted to play Ronda’s last game. It is a movement that allows you to control your destination and there is also an excuse for that: the stations want it.
The final group of India ‘A’ against New Zealand, which finally became a decisive for first position, should have been played on March 28, a day after the Pakistan-Bangladesh clash.
That would have put the group in their group and changing in the last round of matches in group ‘B’. I would have seen only the team that would face India in the semifinals to make the trip to the EAU instead of both teams, we pursue their bags.
But then, where is the advantage for India?
“People do not want to listen to it, but India has the third place in the management of the International Cricket,” wrote the Indian-American writer Sadanand Dhume in X. “He does not even intend to be impartial. The point of power is to flaunt him, the more crude, the better.”
The power show of India is shameless. Batting Great Sunil Gavaskar, speaking with him India today News channel, boast of his country’s position in the game.
“People continue to groan and groan,” he said, in response to former Skills in England Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain shouting the advantage of India playing all their games in Dubai during the Champions Trophy.
There was also a timely Gavaskar comment in India that provided most transmission income for the ICC and “paying their salaries.”
“The time has come for India to close the ears and ignore them,” he continued.
The question is still how long the strings voices can be ignored. The legend of the Western Indies, Sir Vivian Richards, did not maintain his silence with the continuous favoritism of the ICC of India.
“People can have a point where they say that. I suppose it is due to politics, I don’t want to enter the political side of things, “he told reporters in India during an event of the Masters International League on Sunday.
“But I think that the responsible people, in terms of the government and the ruling of the game itself, which are the ICC, are the ones that I think they had the problem.
“I would like you to present an answer, why? If they are the ruling Cricket organ, why is that happening today? Honestly, I think that one of the things that can unite us all, fans and all, even the enemies, [is] sports.”
Sports, and Cricket, could not unite India and Pakistan. The division forced South Africa to make a useless one -day trip to Dubai before returning to Lahore until Monday, along with New Zealand, before Wednesday’s semifinal between the two parties.
Writing in his column for The Nightly, the former Australia pacemakers, Mitchell Johnson, said it was not the first time that the ICC has been criticized by how it manages the issues related to India.
“The ability to adapt is important, but it is also critical to maintain some uniformity in the logistics of the tournament to maintain the integrity of the competition,” he said.
Largely without otersed
However, players participating in the Champions Trophy are largely without oters. In addition to Rassie van der Dussen in South Africa, no one else has talked about the advantage for India.
“Obviously, we had an agitated schedule playing a couple of games in Pakistan, round trip between cities,” Spinner of Australia Adam Zampa said on Monday. “With the nature of this tournament, without knowing where we are for the first semifinal, it is nice to get here.”
The New Zealand batter, Tom Latham, said the trip and schedule were “beyond our control”, and his team knew that they will have to fly back to Lahore for their semifinal.
“We do not decide the schedule and for us it is about appearing in each game, regardless of where to be and try to play our best Crickt brand,” he said Monday.
Players seem to take it easy. But neither Zampa nor Latham have had to make an unnecessary trip. South Africa, who played England on Saturday, had to do it despite finishing the upper part of group ‘B’, the advantage won. The trip could make a difference between them and an end, but the hitter Henrik Klassen reproses him aside.
“We knew it was a great possibility that we could fly up and down. So yes, there is nothing really too [un]common about it. It is not ideal for the bodies, but at least we had time to leave and walk and release. Actually, I had a good steak to be fair, ”said Klassen on Monday.
“But apart from that, we knew it was going to happen and it is part of the programming. So two teams had to do it and unfortunately, we were one of them. We have not really traveled much in this competition. Obviously it was just a madness of 18 hours, to be fair. “
Klassen said that with South Africa not playing a game in Dubai, they could have a slight advantage.
“Both teams that play in Lahore, them [New Zealand] They played a game and had to travel six hours after the game, ”he said. “At least we had free time to spread the legs and recover so well before we had to return. So, in that aspect, there is not much difference.
“I think our bodies will be in a better position than their bodies. But mainly, it is part of the professional cryket at this time and you just have to endure and return and see if you can recover well and do the job at the end of the day. “
Posted in Dawn, March 4, 2025
