IF one tunes into Pakistani news broadcasts via YouTube (using a VPN, of course, considering most of them are blocked in India), there is a sense of glee at the so called “masterstroke” by the Federal Minister for Interior, Mohsin Naqvi, who also happens to be the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Naqvi, incidentally, is also the brother-in-law of Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Now the only problem is that this ‘masterstroke’ will end up badly hurting Pakistan cricket, to start with. It will also hurt the ICC’s (International Cricket Council) finances and, most of all, it will hurt the smaller members of the ICC like Nepal, Kenya, Scotland, Netherlands, Ireland, Bangladesh and the rest who are hugely dependent on the annual dole from the ICC to run their cricket.
IPL profit engine
First, why it won’t hurt Indian cricket. According to Sportstar: “The total broadcast fee for IPL 2025 amounted to Rs 9,678 crore, which translates to approximately 130.7 crores per game. While the television rights were acquired by Star Sports, the digital rights were secured by Viacom18, owned by Reliance Industries Limited. The number of advertisers in IPL 2025 grew by 27 per cent, to 105.” The IPL is a BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India)-product, and after paying off the broadcasters and the franchisees, the BCCI has a healthy Rs 5,000 crore added to its kitty each year.
That translates to roughly $600 million annually. This only grows by closer to 15-20 per cent each year. Analysing its financials, CoPilot said, “This makes IPL the single largest profit engine in Indian sport and the primary reason BCCI’s annual revenue crossed Rs 20,000 crore in 2024–25.”
On the other hand, what this will do to Pakistan cricket is debilitating:
Pakistan is likely to lose close to $30-35 million (nearly Rs 300 crore) of ICC revenue that is likely to be withheld if it boycotts the match.
It may end up being sued by broadcaster Jio for breach of contract, which will further expose it to Rs 300 crore loss in likely claims.
Reputational damage that will surely impact future ICC bilateral tours and tournaments
Pak Super League
The reason why Pakistan can even go so far as saying they will boycott the Indian fixture is the cushion that the Pakistan Super League gives them in the form of domestic revenue. But if overseas NoCs dry up as penal action, even the PSL may face a tough period.
Which now brings us to Pakistan equating their neutral venue arrangement with India giving the same license to Bangladesh. In the first instance, the India-Pakistan neutral venue two-year arrangement agreed upon with the ICC should never have happened. It sets a bad precedent, with the first fallout being the Bangladesh insistence on a neutral venue.
Why the two are not comparable is because the arrangement happened long before either the Champions Trophy or the World T20 had moved into its final lap. In the case of Bangladesh, asking for a shift of venue at the eleventh hour will stymie a whole lot of arrangements already in place – broadcasters and their firmed-up travel plans, tickets sold, spectators’ travel and hotel arrangements, marketing events and programmes in each venue. All that would come to nought and would be almost impossible to package together again at the last moment. So it’s no surprise that the ICC said yes to the request.
The IPL is a BCCIproduct, and after paying off the broadcasters and the franchisees, it has a healthy Rs 5,000 crore added to its kitty each year
The ICC statement
In its statement, the ICC said: “that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body.”
But when India makes an exception for itself, the leader of the cricketing pack, so to speak, it only opens itself to attacks that there are two sets of rules – one for India and one for the others. It is the most important lesson to learn from this episode.
