‘Short-term commercial initiative’, Jay Shah not in favour of Ramiz Raja's 4-nation T20I series proposal

PCB chief Ramiz Raja had proposed the 4-nation T20I series last month.

By Salman Anjum - 07 Feb, 2022

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja had come up with an idea for a four-nation T20I Super Series last month.

Ramiz had tweeted that he would be making a proposal to the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the tournament, involving India, Pakistan, England, and Australia.

While the ICC is yet to react on the same, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has played down the chances of a quadrangular series, saying the interests of the chief of cricket bodies across the globe should be on expanding the game of cricket rather than focusing on "short-term commercial initiatives".

See Also: “We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that IPL stays in India” - Jay Shah

Ramiz had said that the tournament will be hosted by the four nations on a rotation basis. As per his proposal, the profits will be divided among all the ICC members on a percentage basis.

"With the IPL window expanding and the ICC (global) events every year in the cycle, our primary responsibility is to safeguard bilateral cricket at home, with emphasis on test cricket," Jay Shah told Reuters.

"I am also looking forward to seeing cricket at the Olympics, as that will help the game grow. Expansion of the sport is a challenge that our game faces and we must prioritise it over any short-term commercial initiative," he added.

Ramiz Raja’s proposal was perhaps also to make sure that Pakistan play regular international cricket against India.

Notably, India and Pakistan get to face each other only in multi-nation tournaments organized by ICC and ACC. They haven't played a bilateral series after Pakistan toured India in 2012-13, which included three-match ODI and two-match T20I series.

The arch-rivals last clashed in the 2021 T20 World Cup and Pakistan ended up breaking their losing streak in the World Cup tournaments against India. They are now scheduled to meet in the upcoming T20 World Cup at MCG on October 23.

By Salman Anjum - 07 Feb, 2022

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