Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar said that while he doesn’t see any future of one-day format going forward, he does hope that BCCI makes a lot of money from the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 to be held in India.
His reasoning behind it is that the revenue generated in cricket from India comes to ICC which is then distributed to other nations as well. The money comes to Pakistan as well and he said that it helps in paying fees to young domestic cricketers in the country.
"I hope it's [ODI World Cup 2023] not going to be the last one as I don't see a future for 50-over cricket. This is gonna be the most beautiful and most amazing World Cup where India should make tons of money. I strongly believe India should make tons of revenue out of this World Cup.
I am in this favour because not many people will tell you that the revenue that goes to the ICC from India, a portion of it comes to Pakistan and it helps in paying fees to the young domestic cricketers,” Akhtar said during a chat with Boria Majumdar on RevSportz.
Furthermore, he stated that excessive pressure from the Indian media on the Indian team is one of the reasons for some of their losses and not lack of talent.
"Most of the time, India doesn't lose because they are lacking talent. India loses because of the pressure that it gets from its own media. They get stuck over there. 'Our sponsorship will die, our money is stuck' and a lot of other things are said that build excessive pressure on the media.
“I would like to tell the Indian media and you [Boria Majumdar] as well to be a bit more considerate towards the Indian team. You all build so much pressure, why do you do it? How do you do it? We know very well because we are insiders but ultimately, it is the wrong thing to do when you're mounting pressure on team India," Shoaib added.
"Last year I was in Dubai, I was doing a show with the Indian local channels. They painted everything blue, they bought all the stadium, and they were talking about only one thing, 'Team India, you are going to crush Pakistan'. Who builds this much pressure? When you make us [Pakistan] the underdog, the pressure is not on us. What we are gonna do now? 'Hey listen, guys, we got nothing to lose. Just go out there and win,'" he signed off.
