LAHORE: Former Pak­stan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Khalid Mahmood believes that Pakistan should come forward to end the powerful roles of India, Australia and England in world cricket affairs.

“Only Pakistan can play such a role, to stop the injustice being done in cricket by big powers like India, England and Australia, also because Pakistan has strong teams in all three formats and it holds a strong voice [in international cricket] to lead and protect the interests of weak [cricketing] nations,” Khalid said while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

“I know it is not easy but one should come forward and Pakistan is in the best position to lead the smaller cricket-playing nations. Slowly and gradually, Paki­st­an will eventually succeed in its struggle against the injustice of these three countries. One day, the world will come to support Pakistan’s voice,” he added.

“If no one steps forward to stop the power show of the three [cricketing] countries, the smaller countries will suffer more financial and cricket-related losses in future.”

Khalid, who was PCB chairman in 1998-99, was particularly critical of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which he said was seeking to isolate Pakistan.

“The BCCI is using all negative tactics against the PCB under a pre-planned political design in order to isolate Pakistan in the world of cricket,” Khalid stated.

“BCCI secretary Jay Shah has full support of the Indian government in that matter as his father [Amit Shah] is India’s minister of home affairs.”

Regarding the recent events leading up to the ongoing Asia Cup which will be followed by the Oct 5-Nov 19 World Cup in India, Khalid said the developments explicitly indicate contrasting approaches adopted by the game’s governing bodies.

“While the International Cricket Council (ICC) did not react to the [unilateral] changes made by the BCCI in the schedule of [some] World Cup matches, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) did not allow the PCB, the original host country of the Asia Cup, to make any changes on its own,” he underlined.

“All this is just because of the power wielded by Jay Shah who is also the incumbent ACC president.”

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2023