Who is to be blamed for India vs Pakistan fixtures in Asia Cup 2025?
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Who is to be blamed for India vs Pakistan fixtures in Asia Cup 2025?")
Who is to be blamed for India vs Pakistan fixtures in Asia Cup 2025? Photograph: (AFP)
Like other major events, cricket does not involve any draw process to determine the fate of teams. It is the broadcasters who determine the selection of fixtures and the draws. This means the ICC and the ACC favour draws that attract huge revenue.
India and Pakistan are all set to lock horns in the Asia Cup 2025 for the second time on Sunday (Sep 21) as the two arch-rivals face each other at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai. While the rivalry was back on the calendar last week with a group stage meeting, calls for a boycott are in full volume as diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan soured after the Pahalgam terror attack in April. However, despite that, both nations were drawn in the same group of the Asia Cup 2025, leading to calls for a boycott.
Can ICC, ACC avoid drawing India-Pakistan?
Like other major events, cricket does not involve any draw process to determine the fate of teams. It is the broadcasters who determine the selection of fixtures and the draws. This means the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) favour draws that attract huge revenue. Since India is a significant market for digital consumption, broadcasters, in collaboration with the ICC and ACC, have opted to stage the India vs Pakistan match at every major event, despite the poor diplomatic relations.
Both ICC and ACC, in the hot topic, can take a page out of UEFA’s (European football’s governing body), which had avoided teaming up Russia-Ukraine and Azerbaijan-Armenia in major qualifiers and tournaments.
For ACC, it was easily possible to keep both India and Pakistan in different groups as there was no draw in the process. ACC also influenced the draw for the Super 4 stage, where India and Pakistan meet again, having finished in the top two of Group A.
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While the backlash is at its peak, the clash between India and Pakistan could have been avoided for monetary reasons had ACC paired India in a different group.
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Are ICC, ACC to be blamed for India vs Pakistan?
All the necessary approvals for holding India vs Pakistan or for that matter, other matches are given by ICC and ACC. However, the bodies are influenced by broadcasters, who mainly decide the fixtures. This means the onus for arranging these fixtures falls on the broadcasters. The fixture could have been avoided easily had India and Pakistan been paired differently in the Asia Cup by the broadcasters.
Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.
