The big news coming out of the Pakistan Cricket fraternity is that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is looking forward to hosting at least one of the major ICC events in the 2024-31 cycle. Going ahead, PCB submitted an ‘expression of interest’ regarding it to its Board of Governors yesterday.
For a nation with so much cricketing history, Pakistan has not hosted any major ICC tournaments since co-hosting the 1996 Cricket World Cup along with India and Sri Lanka. Even in 2011, when the subcontinent hosted the Cricket World Cup, Pakistan was not given the hosting rights for it and Bangladesh got the nod instead. As per reports, the Board of Governors (BoG) met yesterday to discuss this idea proposed to them by the PCB.
Followed by the meeting, PCB released an official statement which said, “The BoG was informed that the PCB has submitted expression of interest for six ICC Events in the 2024-31 cycle. Of these six events, the PCB is keen to host the three-venue ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and 2029 on its own. While it has offered to host the remaining four events — two eight-venue ICC T2O World Cups 2026 and 2028, as well as the two 10-venue ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups 2027 and 2031 — in partnership with other Asian countries.”
ICC’s evaluation committee will determine and evaluate the possibility of future ICC events in Pakistan. Any decision upon which is expected in a few months. For now, PCB remains hopeful and is fully focused on hosting New Zealand, England, Australia and West Indies for their 2021-22 home cricket calendar. It also confirmed the involvement of Restrata and ESI, two global security management companies which will support the PCB in setting up bio-secure protocols and conduct security assessments.
Cricket events in Pakistan had suffered a hit due to political tensions and bad management. Also, post the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team during their tour to Pakistan, ICC suspended international cricket in Pakistan for many years. Therefore, an affirmative decision can be a massive boost for cricket in Pakistan in the coming years.