Legendary Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar made a huge claim regarding the ICC Champions Trophy, saying that it had already been decided that the tournament will be played in hybrid format before the PCB accepted BCCI’s demands.
Under this model, all of India’s matches will be played in UAE while the rest of the games will be played in Pakistan. The proposal for the hybrid model was put forward by the BCCI after they informed the ICC that they will nt let the Indian team travel to Pakistan in order to participate in the Champions Trophy.
However, PCB remained adamant on their stance of hosting all the matches of the tournament in Pakistan only. Reportedly, the ICC threatened PCB of losing all the hosting rights for the Champions Trophy which eventually led them to accept BCCI’s proposal.
Speaking at a Pakistan media channel, Akhtar gave an unbiased take on PCB accepting BCCI’s proposal of hybrid model being used for the Champions Trophy.
“You are getting paid for hosting rights and revenue, and that’s fine we all understand it. Pakistan’s stance is also reasonable. They should have maintained a strong position, why not? Once we are able to host the Champions Trophy in our country and they are unwilling to come, they should share the revenue with us at a higher rate. That’s a good call,” Akhtar said.
Akhtar also urged the Pakistan team to go to India and defeat them before revealing that PCB had already agreed to the hybrid model well in advance.
“In terms of playing in India in the future, we should extend a hand of friendship and go there. My belief has always been: go to India and defeat them there—India mein khelo aur wahi unhe maarke aao (play in India and beat them on their home ground). I understand that the hybrid model had already been signed earlier,” Akhtar said.
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