Don't send team to India for any events: Shahid Afridi's message to PCB

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to adopt a strong stance by boycotting cricket events in India, including ICC tournaments, unless India agrees to play in Pakistan. The ICC Champions Trophy stand-off has been one of the talking points in the cricket world at the moment. India are refusing to send a team to Pakistan for the tournament.

Speaking at the Urdu Conference held at the Karachi Arts Council, Afridi highlighted the importance of self-reliance for Pakistan cricket. He called on the PCB to take decisive measures, particularly in response to India’s refusal to send its team to Pakistan for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled between January and March next year.

The former Pakistan captain said that Pakistan shouldn't send a team to play in India.

"Pakistan cricket should be strong and self-sufficient and take strong principled decisions. If India can't come and play in Pakistan then there is no reason for us to go and play any event in India,” he said.

India has demanded a "hybrid model" for the tournament, insisting on playing its matches at a neutral venue instead of travelling to



Pakistan. This disagreement has delayed the announcement of the final schedule and venues for the event.

Afridi expressed support for the PCB’s firm position on the Champions Trophy, emphasising that Pakistan must stand its ground in ensuring equitable cricketing ties with India. The former Pakistan captain also criticised ICC and asked them to take a strong stand.

“Even the ICC now has to decide whether its responsibility is to ensure every member nation gets to play cricket or it just wants to make money,” he added.

Afridi also said that Pakistan cricket's problem has been the fact that there are policy changes, pointing to the time when Shaheen Shah Afridi was made the captain of the side and then forced to resign.

“When Shaheen was made Pakistan T20 captain I was against it and I said that the board should have made Muhammad Rizwan the captain as he was the best choice. But once they made Shaheen captain it was also wrong for the PCB to remove him as captain after just one series. It affected him,” he said.

According to the latest report, the ICC is close to agreeing a hybrid model for the Champions Trophy.