Champions trophy dates shifted

ICC Champions TrophyImage via Wikipedia

After England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and West Indies expressed fear over the security conditions in Pakistan, ICC decided to push back the event by a year. Good decision or bad decision? Irrelevant decision I would say.

Why? Because, Champions trophy never made sense to me, there is World cup which happens every four five years, there is T20 world cup which started just last year and yes there is a ICC Trophy through which two associate countries are selected for the world cup. So why is there a Champions Trophy?

The tournament which began in 1998, and was a big hit because of the shorter duration and the knock-out method of elimination. Now if that style is so cool, then why not get rid present system followed in cricket world cup and use this method there? ICC wouldn’t do that because they stand a chance of earning big-moolah from the tournament!

The only who people who have lost something because of the tournament are Pakistanis. This is not the first time Australia and other “western” cricketing powers have raised objection in playing in areas in the sub-continent. Australia refused to play in Sri Lanka during 96′ WC, they later on canceled a tour in Pak last year (or the year before that) and now they have successfully postponed a tournament which I suspect will happen next year either.

The main reason, Pakistan is still facing a threat of political instability in spite of Musharraf stepping down form his post of President. Now lets say things don’t improve, what then? Will they postpone the tournament indefinitely or would they want the tournament to be held in India? How safe is India, sure army is not going to do a coup-de-tat, but hey we do hear of a bomb explosion in some part of the country or the other. Even we are at war with terrorists every day, so why is Pakistan looked down upon while India is looked upto? Are we in good books just because we are the money minting machine of the ICC, or is there a more political reason to it?Michael Atherton agrees with me

No tears need be shed for the ICC Champions Trophy, a misnomer of a tournament conceived out of pure greed. Like most things with a solely monetary value, it is a worthless affair.

On the other hand Pakistan Cricket Board seems pretty okay with the decision

“We are naturally disappointed but in a way the postponement is a victory for us. Under these circumstances there were only two solutions: either to relocate the event to Sri Lanka or postpone it. “Had it been relocated it would have deprived us of the hosting rights,”

Chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said

This kinda response is very lame coming from one of the top guys of Pak cricket. Is organising the event all that maters? How about some self respect, would you let a few countries dominate which all tournaments are organised in your country? What would India have done if countries refused to tour India. I am sure we would have started a new tournament and provided solid entertainment for Indian viewers something on line of the recently concluded IPL.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

5 responses to “Champions trophy dates shifted”
  1. allirekha Avatar

    Let them postpone the tournament indefinitely …ha i need some relief from ppl around shouting abt cricket ..ha…ha…ha..!! 😀
    but still it feels shameful ,when countries refuse to tour India!

  2. Nikhil Avatar

    MONEY MONEY MONEY!! 😀
    No other reason! Bastards! 😀

  3. Amit Avatar

    Errrr…whatever. I don’t care. I am off cricket. 😛
    But yes, the statement is kinda funny.

  4. | Balu | Avatar

    @Rekha
    Glad u think so.. inspite of the cat u HATE cricket 😀

    @Nikhil
    I would call them a diff names worse ones! 😛

    @Amit
    Off cricket? Why?

  5. Xylene Avatar

    oh its about cricket.
    Thank god, they have different channels for cricket now. 😀

What do you think? Leave a Reply