India’s victory to lift just another ICC trophy, that too without losing a single match in the tournament, has not gone down well with a number of ex-cricketers of Pakistan and they are repeatedly blaming India and ICC for manipulating the results
India cricket team lifted second ICC (International Cricket Council) trophy- Champions Trophy on Sunday in just eight months time, the previous being ICC Men’s T20 World Cup held in the USA and co-hosted by Cricket West Indies in June last year.
Yet again it’s Rohit Sharma led team that won the final match against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy convincingly, held in Dubai International Stadium packed to full capacity on Sunday with Indian fans dotting the stadium all over.
India’s victory to lift just another ICC trophy, that too without losing a single match in the tournament, has not gone down well with a number of ex-cricketers of Pakistan and they are repeatedly blaming India and ICC for manipulating the results as, they have said, in a number of TV channels debates that allowing India to play all its matches at just one place i.e. Dubai and forcing seven other teams to travel frequently between Pakistan and Dubai is akin to manipulating the results.
One of such former cricketers- Junaid Khan who was a member of Pakistan team that had won 2017 ICC Champions Trophy posted stats on X (Formerly Twitter) two days back to accuse India of getting the desired results with zero distance travel in Dubai whereas, as he has posted, New Zealand had to travel 7150 km and South Africa 3286 km.
Several other ex-cricketers too like Inzamam-ul-Haq have repeatedly blamed India for, what they said, drawing undue advantage from one-venue scheduling for India.
However, there are certain journalists and former cricketers who, apart from lauding India’s victory due to its balanced side, have hailed the for a different reason too.
Discussing the ICC Champions Trophy event and state of affairs of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) with three other sports journalists- Aurangzeb Younis, Imran Suhail and Ezaz Kundal a renowned sports journalist in Pakistan Sanaullah Khan said, “Personally, being a Pakistani I wanted to see Pakistan to lift the trophy but I am happy that India won the tournament. For, this may serve as a wake-up call for PCB to put its house in order. Had India lost the matches Pakistan team could have said, ‘Look, India too has lost’. But India’s victory should lead to desired changes in the Pakistan cricket set-up.”
Sanaullah Khan debunked the one-venue for India theory being propagated by a section of Pakistan’s ex-cricketers and journalists.
He said the venue advantage to India might be 5 to 7% but they lifted the trophy with their overall performance. “One should not forget that in the last three ICC events India lost just one of 23 matches i.e. the final of ICC Men’s World Cup, that too on their home ground”, he added.
The other fellow journalists in discussion with Sanaullah Khan too agreed with him that India was a better side in the tournament.
These journalists underlined the leadership skill of Rohit Sharma as to how he gave credit of victory to entire team and dubbed the victory as a result of team work.
The journalists also showered praises over Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli for the humility they showed after the victory.
“Rohit Sharma said none of them won the tournament single-handedly. It was a team’s success. The body language of Indian team too suggested as if they had hunger for the victory for their country, not for individual glory. Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya’s gesture in what they said after the victory and their gesture with fans was superb and full of humility”, one of the journalists said.
Recounting his own experience when he was a boy and had to try unsuccessfully for hours for autograph of a renowned Pakistani cricketer he said the difference between Pakistani players and Indian players was the humility the Indian players demonstrate with their body language.
He named two Pakistani cricketers who treated badly with a boy who was trying to have their autographs.
