Former England captain Michael Atherton has said that Pakistan’s inability to play a bilateral series against India is responsible for the financial losses faced by PCB over the past decade.
Atherton added that Pakistan has been forced to play their home matches in UAE as after the attack of Sri Lanka’s bus in 2009, they could not host teams in Pakistan for the better part of the 2010s decade.
India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket since January 2013 wherein Pakistan visited their neighbours wherein they played 2 T20Is and 3 ODIs. The two teams have not met in a bilateral Test series since the 2007-08 season.
However, India and Pakistan have been meeting each other at bilateral series with their most recent tie coming at the 2019 World Cup. Efforts to hold bilateral series in the past have not worked in favour, resulting in very limited episodes of one of cricket’s greatest rivalries.
“Pakistan’s inability to play India in bilateral events has cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in the past decade, or how being in exile in the UAE for nearly a decade cost significant amounts of financial and psychological capital,” Atherton wrote in his column for The Times.
Atherton further pointed out that Pakistan have played the most number of matches away from home since cricket resumed after the Covid-19 break. Atherton added that countries like England and Australia have had the luxury of backing off from tours or not traveling away from home for a significant period of time.
“When England have pulled out of tours to South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and when Australia have played no Test matches away from home since the pandemic began, Pakistan have traveled all over the world (and, remember, there are no touring fees paid to the visitors these days). Pakistan have played the most number of matches away from home since Covid struck, by some distance,” Atherton further wrote.
