Have said this repeatedly BCCI won’t let T20 World Cup happen, alleges Shoaib Akhtar

Have said this repeatedly BCCI won’t let T20 World Cup happen, alleges Shoaib Akhtar

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Akhar blamed it on India for T2O World Cup cancellation

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Shoaib Akhtar has claimed that the cancellation of the T20 World Cup was the product of the BCCI wanting to host Indian Premier League on a priority basis. Rashid Latif, meanwhile, claimed that the decision to defer the T20 World Cup is benefitting almost all the cricket boards.

The International Cricket Council, after a long deliberation and trying to chalk out contingency plans, finally announced that the T20 World Cup would not go ahead this year which formally opened the door for the BCCI to plan the Indian Premier League for this season. Even though the tournament will be played in the UAE, the timing of it has not gone down well with Akhtar who blamed the ICC for dishing out a favourable treatment to the Indian board.

“Ultimately a powerful man, or a powerful cricket board they run the policy and they make sure that you suffer. T20 WC and Asia Cup could have been played this year, this was a chance for India and Pakistan to play against each other but they let it go. There are a lot of reasons behind this I don’t want to go into details," Akhtar told Geo Cricket.

“T20 WC could have been played but me and Rashid have said this repeatedly that they won’t let it happen, it won’t happen. IPL shouldn’t get damaged, the T20 World Cup can go to hell. India needs to save cricket immediately otherwise it won’t affect my era. The quality of cricket will decline but people will continue to make millions of dollars from the sport. Even the following will reduce just like it did in Pakistan after the 2017 Champions Trophy triumph,” the former Pakistan pacer added.

The T20 World Cup is not the only event to have been cancelled this year, with the Asia Cup being dismissed due to the global epidemic. While former Pakistan wicket-keeper Rashid Latif explained that he understood the ICC's decision for the quadrennial event, he was rather critical of Ganguly revealing the ACC decision in an interview before the board itself came up with a formal release.

"Cricket boards around the world, be it India, Pakistan or England, they mostly look at the financial packages. All the boards are in this together, not just the BCCI alone. Everybody was in agreement with this decision, it's not just India who stand to benefit if the T20 World Cup didn't happen," said Latif.

"The T20 WC could have been played in February-March but it would have affected Pakistan (due to PSL 2020). Then in April-May the IPL was scheduled so the BCCI would have been affected, then in November-December Australia are supposed to host the Big Bash League. Everybody in the ICC benefits from this decision now. BCCI Sourav Ganguly announced beforehand that the Asia Cup had to be cancelled even before the official statement came out. Whether he was told by PCB boss Ehsan Mani or the Sri Lankan cricket board, all this was all pre-planned," he added.

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