‘If PAK withdraws from WC who will watch’- Ramiz Raja

Ramiz Raja, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has challenged the assertion that no cricket fan would be interested in attending the ODI World Cup the following year if there is no rivalry between India and Pakistan. Raja’s comments are in response to Jay Shah’s statement that the Asia Cup 2023 should be moved from Pakistan, which was made by the BCCI secretary. 

Some former players from the neighboring nation did not like Jay Shah’s statement, and he was criticized by Saeed Anwar, Salman Butt, and Shahid Afridi, among others. In the meantime, PCB had previously threatened to withdraw from the 2023 World Cup. Recently, Pakistan’s team has performed well, particularly in the Twenty20 format. They were close to England in the seven-match home T20I series leading up to the World Cup. And triumphed over the hosts in the final of the tri-series that was held in New Zealand. 

Bangladesh was the series’ third participant. After Pakistan’s defeat to Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup Super 12 stage, Pakistan captain Babar Azam received criticism, but he fought back strongly and guided his team to the event’s final.

We will adopt an aggressive approach: Ramiz Raja

“If Pakistan doesn’t take part in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? We have a clear stand: If the Indian team comes here (for the next Asia Cup) then we will go for the World Cup. If they don’t come then they can play the World Cup without us. We will adopt an aggressive approach. Our team is showing performance,”

said Ramiz Raja while speaking to Urdu News.

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“I’ve always said we need to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket, and that can only happen when we perform well. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, we beat India. We beat India in the T20 Asia Cup. In one year, the Pakistan cricket team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice,”

he said.

Aside from the following year’s 50-over Asia Cup, Pakistan are likewise booked to have the ICC Champions Prize in 2025. They would be attempting to defend the title they won in 2017 by a massive 180 runs over their archrivals, India.

PCB in recent times wanted to bring India and Pakistan cricket closer with a proposal of four nation tournament. AsiaCup 2023 in Pakistan could have been first step towards resuming bilateral cricket series. Unfortunately BCCI is a problem creator with totally malafide intentions

— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) October 20, 2022

However, it is currently unknown whether Pakistan will withdraw from the ODI World Cup the following year or whether they will be required to abide by the policies and procedures of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and follow the procedure accordingly.

Pakistan has emerged as a significantly improved team in multi-nation competitions since the 2019 World Cup. They finished as runners-up in this year’s Asia Cup and T20 World Cup after reaching the semifinals of the previous tournament.