Michael Atherton, a former captain of England, has openly told the International Cricket Council (ICC) to think about whether they should keep “arranging” matches between India and Pakistan in key tournaments. His comments come after a number of problems during the recent Men’s Asia Cup, which India won on September 28.
Writing in his column for The Times, Atherton highlighted that while economic and diplomatic factors have historically favored scheduling the contest, the rising political animosity between the two nations needs a change.
Asia Cup Full of Arguments and Stress
The 2025 Asia Cup, in which India and Pakistan played three times, will be remembered for the “bad blood” that spilled onto the field, especially after the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
Some important flashpoints were:
Refusal to Shake Hands: The Indian team, lead by Suryakumar Yadav, made it clear that they did not want to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts during their first meeting on September 14.
contentious gestures: During the Super 4s competition, Pakistani players like Haris Rauf, Faheem Ashraf, and Sahibzada Farhan made gestures that were seen as provocative and contentious.
Refusal of the Trophy: The tournament ended with a big diplomatic snub when the winning Indian team turned down the trophy from Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The Power of Money vs. the Integrity of Sports
Atherton admitted that the India-Pakistan battle, which has been a part of every ICC event since 2013, is an economic necessity.
Atherton noted, “Despite its scarcity (maybe, in part, because of its scarcity), it is a fixture that carries huge economic clout.” This is one of the key reasons why the broadcast rights for ICC tournaments are worth so much—around $3 billion for the 2023-27 cycle.
He said that the decrease in bilateral matches has made ICC tournaments more important, making the India-Pakistan match “crucial to the balance sheets of those who would not otherwise have any skin in the game.”
A Stand-in for Bigger Problems
Atherton thinks that the tournaments’ sporting integrity is now under danger, even though there are commercial reasons for it. He says that the cricketing links have “clearly become a proxy for broader tensions.”
He said, “If cricket used to be a way to settle disagreements, it is now clearly a way to spread propaganda and tensions.”
He gave the ICC a stern talking-to for what he sees as scheduling that is more about money than the sport: “There is little justification, in any case, for a serious sport to arrange tournament fixtures to suit its economic needs, and now that the rivalry is being exploited in other ways, there is even less justification for it.”
Atherton ended by asking for more fairness and accountability in the scheduling process. “For the next round of broadcast rights, the fixture draw before ICC events should be clear, and if the two teams don’t meet every time, that’s fine.”