LAHORE: It was a quiet Sunday, the buzz of the Champions Trophy conspicuous by its absence in Lahore. The last-four lineup had been confirmed; the stage reached at which any tournament across any sport builds towards its crescendo.
Any excitement, if there was any, was discreet, unnoticeable. India’s takeover of the first International Cricket Council tournament in Pakistan in nearly three decades was complete.
Pakistan was left picking the pieces, it now has to start afresh in its bid to inject enthusiasm back into the tournament. On Sunday, none of the semi-finalist teams were in the country. They were all in Dubai, with South Africa and Australia having flown there just to learn their fate — whether they will be staying on to play their semi-final against India or whether they will fly back to Pakistan. For one team it was going to be a meaningless trip.
It shouldn’t have been that way, not if the schedule was made on merit. Instead, it was made on India’s whims.
After refusing to travel to Pakistan — and forcing through a hybrid arrangement that will work for both parties in the future — India, as in all ICC tournaments, wanted to play the last round-robin match. It’s a move that allows it to control its destiny and there is an excuse for that too — the broadcasters want it that way.
India’s final Group ‘A’ game against New Zealand — which eventually became a decider for top spot — should’ve been played on March 28, a day after the Pakistan-Bangladesh clash.
That would’ve brought the group to a close, shifting focus on the last round of matches in Group ‘B’. It would’ve seen only the team that was due to face India in the semis make the trip to the UAE instead of both teams packing their bags.
But then, where’s the advantage for India?
“People don’t want to hear it, but India has Third Worldized the management of international cricket,” Indian-American writer Sadanand Dhume wrote on X. “It does not even pretend to be fair-minded. The point of power is to flaunt it — the cruder the better.”
India’s power show is blatant. Batting great Sunil Gavaskar, speaking to the India Today news channel, flaunted his country’s standing in the game.
“People keep moaning and moaning,” he said, in response to former England skippers Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain calling out India’s advantage by playing all their matches in Dubai during the Champions Trophy.
There was also a pointed remark by Gavaskar at India providing the largest chunk of broadcast revenue for the ICC and “paying their salaries”.
“The time has come for India to shut their ears and ignore them,” he went on to say.
The question remains how long can sane voices be ignored. West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards didn’t maintain his silence at the ICC’s continued favouritism of India.
“People may have a point when they say that. I guess that’s due to politics — I don’t want to get into the political side of things,” he told reporters in India during an event of the International Masters League on Sunday. “But I believe the people who are responsible, in terms of the governing and the ruling of the game in itself, which is the ICC, they’re the ones who I think got the problem.
“I would like them to come up with an answer, why? If they are the governing body of cricket, why is that happening at present? I honestly believe one of the things that can bring all of us together, fans and everyone, even enemies together, [is] sports.”
Sports — and cricket — couldn’t bring India and Pakistan together. The divide forced South Africa to make a useless day-trip to Dubai before they came back to Lahore to Monday, alongside New Zealand, ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final between the two sides.
Writing in his column for The Nightly, former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson noted that it wasn’t the first time the ICC has come under fire for how it handles matters related to India.
“The ability to adapt is important but it is equally critical to maintain some uniformity in tournament logistics to uphold the integrity of the competition,” he noted.
LARGELY UNBOTHERED
The players taking part in the Champions Trophy, though, are largely unbothered. Apart from South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen, no one else has spoken about the advantage for India.
“Obviously, we had a bit of a hectic schedule playing a couple of games in Pakistan, back and forth in between cities,” Australia spinner Adam Zampa said on Monday. “With the nature of this tournament, not knowing where we are for the first semi-final, it’s kind of nice to get here.”
New Zealand batter Tom Latham said the travel and schedule was “beyond our control”, with his team knowing they will have to fly back to Lahore for their semi-final.
“We don’t decide the schedule and for us it’s about turning up at each game regardless of where it is and trying to play our best brand of cricket,” he said on Monday.
The players seem to taking it in their stride. But neither Zampa or Latham have had to make an unnecessary trip. South Africa — who played England on Saturday — had to do it despite finishing top of Group ‘B’, the advantage gained lost. The trip could make the difference between them and a final but batter Henrik Klassen brushed it aside.
“We knew that was a big possibility that we might fly up and down. So yeah, there’s nothing really too [un]common about it. It’s not ideal for the bodies, but at least we had some time to get out and walk around and get loose. I actually just had some nice steak to be fair,” Klassen said on Monday.
“But other than that, we knew it’s going to happen and it’s part of the scheduling. So two teams had to do it and unfortunately, we were one of them. We haven’t really travelled a lot in this competition. It was obviously just a crazy 18 hours, to be fair.”
Klassen noted that with South Africa not playing a match in Dubai, they could have a slight advantage.
“Both the teams playing in Lahore, they [New Zealand] played a game and they had to travel six hours after the game,” he said. “We at least had time off to spread our legs and just recover as well before we had to come back. So, in that aspect, there’s not a lot of difference.
“I think our bodies will be in a better position than their bodies. But mainly, it’s part of professional cricket at this moment and you just have to suck it up and go back and see if you can recover well and just get the job done at the end of the day.”
Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2025
