Comments on: Is Our Cricket Protest Justified?

By: auk

auk — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:10:22 +0000

This is the death of Pakistan cricket. It is not the security situation that is to blame as teams have been coming here until end of last year. Pakistan cricket started on a downward path the day Inzamam walked out of the cricket field at the Oval. Pakistan, before that English tour, was the 3rd and 2nd ranked country in tests and one days respectively. We have been paying the price of that decision since, and it only appears that that process has accelerated now. 2008 will be the first year when Pakistan has not played any test cricket in a long while, when all other countries (barring Zimbabwe) have such busy schedules.
The bad news is that it is not just the white countries, but now even Sri Lanka has refused to come here; I wonder why, when their country itself is embroiled in a civil war for the last few decades.
The insistence of BCCP on getting the Champion’s trophy played here is misplaced. What is the possibility that teams will agree to come here next year, when there is not even an agreement on the dates for this event. They should focus only on getting bilateral events to try to build the system back. Otherwise, cricket as we knew it will become a thing of the past.
There is also a danger of our players losing their edge if this silent boycott protracts itself any longer. We have already lost Asif, one of the greatest talents to have come on the international scene in the last few years, who risks banned for life. Without any international exposure, other players will start going downhill soon.

By: Gugu

Gugu — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:52:06 +0000

Until the performance of our team improves, the situation will not change. The reason Aussies are willing to play in India despite Jaipur bombing and in London despite 7/7 is because it makes an interesting contest. The game itself is exciting, players enjoy the challenge, the games go to wire and the outlook of grounds and spectrum of watching the game is also attractive. The security situation of course needs to improve but the decision is based on just more than security. Aussies, Kiwis, English and Porteas teams find it easy to say No to us because they don’t see much ‘cricketing’ thrill in playing against Pakistan anymore. People don’t turn up on stands, outfields are slow, grass is dull, pitches are dead and they beat Pakistan without doing much. In a tight crammed schedule of international cricket, the tours to Pakistan then become good opportunity for players to rest and spend time with families. And in security issue, they have an excuse to rest up on!

By: Junaid Abbasi

Junaid Abbasi — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:06:48 +0000

IPL cannot be compared with Champions Trophy, they are just different animals.

I think we need to bring our house in order first and then debate over politics or racism.

Question: If China was able to successfully host the Olympics despite the on-going protests over human rights violations and the situation in Tibet, why couldn’t Pakistan host a small tournament like Champions Trophy? Should we outsource Security and Law & Order to China?

Answer: China has a working model that may be we can leverage. We should think along these lines in order the bring the consumer confidence back.