Michael Atherton slams intentional schedules for Indian-Pakistani matches in the main ICC tournaments
Ancient England captain Michael Atherton strongly criticized the International Cricket Council (ICC) To deliberately plan India-Pakistan matches in the main ICC tournaments, accusing the director body of placing commercial interests above sports integrity. Writing in Times, Atherton called for a transparent light -based lighting process instead of the current practice of frequently organizing high -level encounters between these rivals. He stressed that if the matches in India-Pakistan generate huge viewers and world income, the exploitation of this rivalry decreases the spirit of fair competition and transforms cricket into a political theater platform.
Michael Atherton’s perspective on marketing and political exploitation of Indian-Pakistani rivalry
Atherton stressed that the economic influence of India-Pakistan devices is immense, citing the CPI diffusion rights cycle for 2023-27, estimated at around $ 3 billion, a figure strongly stimulated by these matches. Since the two countries have not played as a bilateral series since 2013 due to tense diplomatic relations, their meetings only occur in the events of the ICC and have been orchestrated several times for a commercial profit. This rarity has increased their marketing, but it also made rivalry an indirect indicator of broader geopolitical tensions and propaganda. Atherton argues that cricket, once a diplomacy vehicle, is now a political posture stage, with the match several times to satisfy economic and political agendas instead of sports equity.
The recent Asia Cup 2025 In a lively illustration of these tensions, with controversies on the ground and out of the field eclipizing cricket. The India team refused to shake hands with its Pakistani counterparts after the terrorist attack of Pahalgam, and India refused to accept the Trophy of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pakistan and the Minister of the Interior Mohs NaqviWho then kept the trophy, arousing indignation on both sides. Pakistani players were seen to make provocative gestures during the tournament, and tension was overthrown in the Women’s World Cup when the captains when the captains when the captains when the captains when the captains Harmanpreet Kaur And Fatima Avoiding hand handles in the draw. These politically loaded moments have raised serious concerns about the continuous manipulation of cricket lights for reasons beyond the sport itself.
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Atherton calls for transparent planning and the protection of cricket integrity
Atherton has urged the administrators of the ICC and the tournament organizers to resist the temptation to manipulate the tournament lights to serve economic and political interests. It pleads for a system of transparent and merit -based lighting system where India and Pakistan do not necessarily meet at each ICC event. His position is that there is little justification for a serious sport to create tournament schedules based on a financial gain, especially since the rivalry is increasingly exploited for non -sporting purposes. He recommends that for future cycles of diffusion rights, the luminaire prints are clear and impartial, allowing teams to meet naturally rather than by design. This, he insists, is crucial to preserving the moral and cultural balance of cricket and protecting it against political propaganda.
In short, Atherton’s criticism has highlighted a critical crossroads for the administration of cricket: to balance the lucrative clashes of India-Pakistan with the maintenance of the integrity of the game and the distance of political conflicts that threaten to overshadow the essence of sport. The call to reform follows a year when the greatest cricket rivalry was less marked by the sporting spirit and more by conflicts, urging the world director of cricket to rethink the luminaire policies in the future.
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