Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Nick Hockley has expressed his keenness on the idea of hosting India and Pakistan in a tri-series as world cricket would largely benefit if both the countries frequently lock horns with each other.
India and Pakistan last played a series in 2012 and since then their bilateral ties have suffered a halt as a consequence of rising tensions on the border. However, the two nations regularly square off in ICC tournaments as their battle garners record viewership.
Interestingly, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja had floated an idea in January of an annual four-nation series involving India, Pakistan, Australia and England, saying, “I am proposing a new Ltd company at the ICC to run the four-nation Super Series with a dedicated CEO. There has to be a new structure for the pooling and sharing of income,” he had said explaining the concept. “The financials/money can be divided in a staggered percentage way amongst the ICC Boards. For this, we have to create an FTP window for it.”
But we did not hear any further development till Wednesday, when Hockley opened up on the plan of hosting a tri-series that would feature India, Pakistan and Australia.
“Personally, I really like the tri-series concept. It’s worked well in the past. We’d be very open to hosting … matches. There are really big communities of both India and Pakistan living in Australia. It’s a contest that everyone wants to see in world cricket and if we can help support further opportunities we would love to do that,” Hockley told the reporters in Rawalpindi.
With India and Pakistan scheduled to face each other in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23, Hockey informed that tickets for the marquee clash have already been sold out.