How to revive cricket after its death at the hands of India in Champions Trophy 2025 Final? What must be done?

[sweep_shot]

I can only speak for myself, and for me, cricket is a dead sport. It probably died a long time ago, but I only came to terms with it recently. The reality is that cricket has become an India-centric sport, and fans from other countries might be better off focusing on other sports or simply stepping away from cricket altogether. The others are just there to make up the numbers anyway. It would be one thing if your team was any good like NZ or South Africa, but when your side is so monumentally rubbish why would you waste time watching a sport that barely has a future to begin with? Crying about how you want things to be won't change anything. The reality of the situation is far different. You can either come to terms with it and move on, or keep torturing yourself.

I'm happy for Indian posters. They deserve to celebrate all the incredible success their team has had in the last couple of years. But personally speaking, the Pakistan team's performances in recent times combined with the rapid Indianization of this sport has completely killed my interest. I just don't care anymore.

Yes. I also believe cricket has become a blatantly India-centric sport. It has got to a point where everything revolves around making India happy.

It is a shame that Brits sold cricket out to the Indians over some monetary benefits. In hindsight, Brits should've kept the sport England-centric.

No other major sport is experiencing this type of farce. I am thinking of switching to another sport.

 

[RahulBose]

20% of your country is in extreme poverty. True Failure.

Sure, but it is an area of improvement.
In working societies, problems are areas of improvement.

In failed systems likes Pak, it is an actual failure

 

[gibsyhesperis]

Cricket as a global sport is becoming increasingly irrelevant (of course, it is debatable whether it was ever a truly “global” sport when only really played by ex British colonies).

In England the game has less and less traction and is totally surpassed by football.
When England won the T20 World Cup in 2022, it barely registered any media coverage.
The only exception is The Ashes which gets a high degree of coverage.

My boys played cricket at school as they were privately educated — most state schools have given up, so a generation will grow up with no real appreciation of the game.

The West Indies have disappeared as a world force, South Africa will follow.
I worry that Pakistan will follow — hockey is a scary precedent.

The hegemony of India will continue — good luck to them, they have a cricket mad population and a super team.

But as a leading sport, cricket will become totally niche.
This is a failing of the ICC and a lack of vision amongst the leaders of the game.

 

[Shehmir]

You are right about this. Cricket has been a classy gentleman sport for majority of its existence. But, that is no longer the case. Things have changed over the past 10-15 years.

It has turned into a farcical sport thanks to BCCI's influence and petty antics.

In order

Should we have a rival cricket board to PCB to only promote badtameez and aggressive players? Fight has to be taken to India.

Or can we form a coalition of island countries like West Indies? Pakistan needs to form an alliance with Afghanistan and Sri Lanka with Bangladesh then we can take India down easily.

Maybe Australia and NZ to create an Oceania team.

Just initially need to boycott ipl. But unfortunately will not do this as their owners are now spread allover the world

 

[jnaveen1980]

You have to understand that this is not an overnight thing. For me, this has been going on since 2007. With only 2009 and 2017 being the outliers. But in alot of previous tournaments there was fight. So you could accept it and hope for something better next time. Since 2023, there hasn't even been any fight. Just embarrassing, gutless surrenders. At the end of the day, you can only take so much before you start switching off as a fan. Especially if you ever followed this sport passionately. Life is full of enough problems as it is, for cricket to rent so much needless space.

Consistency vs Tournament wins. Tournament win is icing. Consistency is cake. You can get by without icing. Because most teams don't win tournament. SOme will never win. But so teams have to start winning consistently. If your team is stagnant you have to dientify why they are stagnant. Just like how agile methodology is used, you can use the same here for cricket to analyze the failures. They call it why, what & how. I am not sure PCB is doing any kind of self-introspection. These weird boot camps, strike force program are not going to help you. First thing Pakistan should focus on is consistency not tournament. Tournament wins will happen automatically when you achieve consistency.

 

[sweep_shot]

Just initially need to boycott ipl. But unfortunately will not do this as their owners are now spread allover the world

Indeed. Virus has spread. It is too late to contain it now.

Only solution I can think of is cricket boards ditching ICC and forming a new and independent governing body.

 

[BDfanforever]

Consistency vs Tournament wins. Tournament win is icing. Consistency is cake. You can get by without icing. Because most teams don't win tournament. SOme will never win. But so teams have to start winning consistently. If your team is stagnant you have to dientify why they are stagnant. Just like how agile methodology is used , you can use the same here for cricket to analyze the failures. They call it why, what & how. I am not sure PCB is doing any kind of self-introspection. These weird boot camps, strike force program are not going to help you.First thing Pakistan should focus on is consistency not tournament. TOurnament wins will happen automatically when you achieve consistency.

What you wrote, I believe is more applicable for teams like BD rather than teams like PAK/SRL/WI whom are former World Title Holders. Even more than winning a two weeks title, I think consistency and domestic structure is more important for much of these teams.

Last time Pak won CT, they were like #8 team who barely made it to the tournament. WI has more T20 World Cups than IND/AUS/RSA/NZ in recent times, but that dont mean much as they dont have the consistency, and the board is not run well.

 

[saimayubera]

What you wrote, I believe is more applicable for teams like BD rather than teams like PAK/SRL/WI whom are former World Title Holders. Even more than winning a two weeks title, I think consistency and domestic structure is more important for much of these teams.

Last time Pak won CT, they were like #8 team who barely made it to the tournament. WI has more T20 World Cups than IND/AUS/RSA/NZ in recent times, but that dont mean much as they dont have the consistency, and the board is not run well.

What recent times. They won their last one nearly 10 years ago and first one 13 years ago.

 

[BDfanforever]

Yes. I also believe cricket has become a blatantly India-centric sport. It has got to a point where everything revolves around making India happy.

It is a shame that Brits sold cricket out to the Indians over some monetary benefits. In hindsight, Brits should've kept the sport England-centric.

No other major sport is experiencing this type of farce. I am thinking of switching to another sport.

The thing that really pissed me off was seeing some news about WPL in "ESPN" Cricinfo front page ahead of the ongoing Men's Champions Trophy matches.

 

[saimayubera]

The thing that really pissed me off was seeing some news about WPL in "ESPN" Cricinfo front page ahead of the ongoing Men's Champions Trophy matches.

WPL>Bangladesh

 

[JaDed]

. I am thinking of switching to another sport.

As I predicted lmao.. Please Watch Soccer , where Fifa bans countries based on their politics.

 

[sweep_shot]

The thing that really pissed me off was seeing some news about WPL in "ESPN" Cricinfo front page ahead of the ongoing Men's Champions Trophy matches.

Exactly.

Then again, Cricinfo has always been CricIndia. I hope we will some decent neutral cricket websites soon.

 

[jnaveen1980]

What you wrote, I believe is more applicable for teams like BD rather than teams like PAK/SRL/WI whom are former World Title Holders. Even more than winning a two weeks title, I think consistency and domestic structure is more important for much of these teams.

Last time Pak won CT, they were like #8 team who barely made it to the tournament. WI has more T20 World Cups than IND/AUS/RSA/NZ in recent times, but that dont mean much as they dont have the consistency, and the board is not run well.

West Indies did not even play 2023 world cup, didn't play this CT. Didn't play 2nd round of world T20, 2022. THat is a steep decline. Pakistan is moving towards there unless they do some self-introspection.

 

[sweep_shot]

Exactly.

Then again, Cricinfo has always been CricIndia. I hope we will some decent neutral cricket websites soon.

I hope we will see some*

 

[Josh]

I hope we will see some*

Man, All this whining!

Just get your BD team to have solid work ethics, a team free from.politics of the day and have an accountable system. If your team does well, cric Info.will cover it too.

It's like the issue is a leg fracture and medication you are looking for is the common cold and fever

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Consistency vs Tournament wins. Tournament win is icing. Consistency is cake. You can get by without icing. Because most teams don't win tournament. SOme will never win. But so teams have to start winning consistently. If your team is stagnant you have to dientify why they are stagnant. Just like how agile methodology is used, you can use the same here for cricket to analyze the failures. They call it why, what & how. I am not sure PCB is doing any kind of self-introspection. These weird boot camps, strike force program are not going to help you. First thing Pakistan should focus on is consistency not tournament. Tournament wins will happen automatically when you achieve consistency.

That's what makes you lose hope. When you see things somehow moving backwards. Just when you think they can't get any worse, they do...all cliches apply. As someone said in an article I read a couple of weeks back, Pakistan's slide feels like a slow, terminal decline.

Worst part about all this is that the PCB can't even begin to fathom what the problems are. They generally work off public opinion and social media reactions. How can you expect them solve something when they don't even understand what the problem is?

If you're a cricketer in Pakistan, there is nothing better for your career then being out of the team during an ICC tournament. You might just come back into the team as captain! We have come to a point where a coach seeing it past 6 months would be an achievement at this point.

It's an absolutely hopeless state of affairs. And things aren't getting better anytime soon.

 

[BDfanforever]

That's what makes you lose hope. When you see things somehow moving backwards. Just when you think they can't get any worse, they do...all cliches apply. As someone said in an article I read a couple of weeks back, Pakistan's slide feels like a slow, terminal decline.

Worst part about all this is that the PCB can't even begin to fathom what the problems are. They generally work off public opinion and social media reactions. How can you expect them solve something when they don't even understand what the problem is?

If you're a cricketer in Pakistan, there is nothing better for your career then being out of the team during an ICC tournament. You might just come back into the team as captain! We have come to a point where a coach seeing it past 6 months would be an achievement at this point.

It's an absolutely hopeless state of affairs. And things aren't getting better anytime soon.

It's really not all doom and gloom for Pak. Your Test Team is a bit of a wreck at the moment, but Test are outdated formats besides top 3.

Your LOI team is still pretty solid. In T20, they went to the final previous edition and in ODIs maintains good standing. What you need is some players with heart of steel for tournament.

 

[JaDed]

It's really not all doom and gloom for Pak. Your Test Team is a bit of a wreck at the moment, but Test are outdated formats besides top 3.

Your LOI team is still pretty solid. In T20, they went to the final previous edition and in ODIs maintains good standing. What you need is some players with heart of steel for tournament.

In previous edition they got knocked out by USA.
Afghans are performing with more consistency than PCT.

 

[jnaveen1980]

That's what makes you lose hope. When you see things somehow moving backwards. Just when you think they can't get any worse, they do...all cliches apply. As someone said in an article I read a couple of weeks back, Pakistan's slide feels like a slow, terminal decline.

Worst part about all this is that the PCB can't even begin to fathom what the problems are. They generally work off public opinion and social media reactions. How can you expect them solve something when they don't even understand what the problem is?

If you're a cricketer in Pakistan, there is nothing better for your career then being out of the team during an ICC tournament. You might just come back into the team as captain! We have come to a point where a coach seeing it past 6 months would be an achievement at this point.

It's an absolutely hopeless state of affairs. And things aren't getting better anytime soon.

This is true. Lot of their moves in line with social media reactions. It cannot happen. Player power is true in all the countries. I remember someone warning kirsten about player power before he joined as coach. But some of the pakistan players didn't achieve much to earn that power. They have to check the fundamental reasons for this player power

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

It's really not all doom and gloom for Pak. Your Test Team is a bit of a wreck at the moment, but Test are outdated formats besides top 3.

Your LOI team is still pretty solid. In T20, they went to the final previous edition and in ODIs maintains good standing. What you need is some players with heart of steel for tournament.

In my opinion, the talent and ability of a player means absolutely nothing if he cannot perform in pressure situations and big matches. Alot of players can perform when the pressure is off. But pressure is ultimately what separates the best from the rest. Pakistan's players have shown time and time again that they don't have what it takes to own those big occasions.

 

[Shafikapeo]

I don't think multi-sports nations like South Africa, Australia, England, and New Zealand are too bothered about cricket. If any countries are, it would be Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, where cricket is the only truly popular sport. Just as Babar has "Bohot Data," BCCI has "Bohot Paisa," which it uses to control cricket on its own terms.

 

[jnaveen1980]

I don't think multi-sports nations like South Africa, Australia, England, and New Zealand are too bothered about cricket. If any countries are, it would be Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, where cricket is the only truly popular sport. Just as Babar has "Bohot Data," BCCI has "Bohot Paisa," which it uses to control cricket on its own terms.

Cricket fans will still follow their sports. Are you saying cricket in NZ is played infront of empty stadium. I watch this new zealander's pod cast yesterday that he says he was completely hear broken after the loss. They are not casual fans. They also take the losses seriously. Medias troll them. THey come heavily on their players. THey have history. True sports fans do that. This fake theory that "NZ, Australia, England" don't care about sports is perpetuated by subcontinent fans. Even with lower population their cricketing board is richer than Bangladesh, pakistan cricket boards. How is it possible if they don't have fans?

 

[Shehmir]

Indeed. Virus has spread. It is too late to contain it now.

Only solution I can think of is cricket boards ditching ICC and forming a new and independent governing body.

Cricket boards will not take fight with BCCI as majority of their revenue generated while playing cricket with India

 

[Suleiman]

Let’s be honest here. Pakistan with a structure like BCCI, is a superior team than India. If this talent is refined than India stands no chance. When they had a board just as incompetent as PCB, Pakistan used to make nihari out of them every game.

Theoretically, Pakistan is always a threat to them, and they know this, hence the venue manipulation.

 

[BouncerGuy]

What revival. India won CT. They won 2 ICC trophies in the span of couple of months. They are dominating atm. Other teams, are not good enough to beat them. Simple.

Yeah BCCI has major influence on ICC but the India team is winning trophies fair and square.

 

[saimayubera]

Let’s be honest here. Pakistan with a structure like BCCI, is a superior team than India. If this talent is refined than India stands no chance. When they had a board just as incompetent as PCB, Pakistan used to make nihari out of them every game.

Theoretically, Pakistan is always a threat to them, and they know this, hence the venue manipulation.

Let's be honest here. Me with a superior bank balance than Elon Musk is a superior entrepreneur than him.

 

[saimayubera]

Let’s be honest here. Pakistan with a structure like BCCI, is a superior team than India. If this talent is refined than India stands no chance. When they had a board just as incompetent as PCB, Pakistan used to make nihari out of them every game.

Theoretically, Pakistan is always a threat to them, and they know this, hence the venue manipulation.

You do realize "refining" is part of the game?

Australia win so much cause they are a first world country with a good structure hence good "refining" capabilities.

Considering the further economic divergence between India and Pak, the structural differences will be even more apparent reflecting in on field performance.

And for what it's worth, Pak in the 90s were never as dominant over India as India is now over Pak.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Let’s be honest here. Pakistan with a structure like BCCI, is a superior team than India. If this talent is refined than India stands no chance. When they had a board just as incompetent as PCB, Pakistan used to make nihari out of them every game.

Theoretically, Pakistan is always a threat to them, and they know this, hence the venue manipulation.

Is this message for USA for switching venue from New York to Dallas?

 

[Suleiman]

After ICC chose not to have a PCB official at the CT 2025 final tourney, we now know that ICC is in on it. And India is their champion.

Pakistan remains the people’s champion and have to work against BCCI and its lapdog ICC as well.

This is not over. The title was taken with dirty tricks and tactics, but we will see you at the next one, guns blazing. This time you caught us off guard by choosing your own venues to play, but next time we will be prepared.

There will always be a Fakhar, Azhar, Shoaib “Anchor” Malik or Mohammad Amir in the ranks to defeat you when you least expect it. For now, enjoy the win.

- Suleiman out.

 

[kingusama92]

no sure about that. Many cricketers world around gravitated to county cricket to make money.

there was not much of international cricket anyway and definitely not during the county season

same thing with IPL. I was in a window where there literally no international cricket, until international cricket calendar stated getting croiwded to make as much money as possible from ... I'll let you guess which market

eg: Aus toured India for ~8 years while the ashes and series with WI was in full flow

I can't debate about county cricket as I have limited knowledge. I am sure you are right.

But there's no doubt they had more of an appetite for international cricket and eventually promoted the idea themselves. Of course, getting pushed even more by Kerry Packer later. This is where modern cricket is different.

Now we're seeing things trend in a different direction.

Like you said, the Indian market is where the money is. Why would the BCCI or franchise owners want to share this with anyone else in the long term? They will want to keep as much of it as possible.

The decline in international cricket will be straightforward.

The IPL season is going to grow longer (maybe even have a second mini IPL season annually as a minor league) and the other leagues will be bought up by Indian owners (already happening) before becoming feeder leagues or redundant. International cricket will see the BCCI ask for more and more from the revenue split while reducing unnecessary away series.

I feel they will eventually only play in England, Australia, and ICC tournaments. Maybe Pakistan depending on politics at that time. Other countries might get tours but it will always be India's B or C team.

There's no solution to this because administrators follow the money. The BCCI is doing nothing wrong. But fans of international cricket are going to be in for a rude surprise soon. I might be wrong about the timeline as it might go past 10 years but it will happen.

Just look around the international cricket scene. No one even shows up for most ODIs and Tests in other countries barring the iconic series. Some show up for T20s here and there but they will show up for league cricket too.

 

[Hikaru]

Counter point, Pakistan cricket was best when liberal bad boys like imran and wasim and akhtar were playing.

As soon as radicalization of players started under Inzi etc the cricket suffered big time. Same happening under Rizwan.

That's true, it's a boring bunch with zero flamboyance. West Indies has terrible results too, but their Cricketers are still fun to watch as a neutral. Pakistan on the other hand is getting certain kind of players I don't enjoy watching.

 

[Hellion]

With too many cameras in place, it's become harder to tamper the ball.

Once ICC came down hard on chuckers like Ajmal and Hafeez as well, Pakistan's cricket has not recovered fully

Since the chucking ban , India leads PAK 8-1 in ODI's.

Would Pakistan have dominated India without chucking and tampering in the past? Not sure.

What do you think , brothers?

Please tell me honestly

 

[Sachin fan]

20% of your country is in extreme poverty. True Failure.

Unfortunately poverty cannot be eradicated completely or we would call this paradise instead of earth.

Even a developed country like America has over 11% people in poverty.

What we can do is improve things and these numbers have been improving vastly for india in last 2 decades.

 

[Hikaru]

With too many cameras in place, it's become harder to tampering the ball.

Once ICC came down hard on chuckers like Ajmal and Hafeez , Pakistan's cricket has not recovered fully

Since the chucking ban , India leads PAK 8-1 in ODI's.

Would Pakistan have dominated India without chucking and tampering in the past? Not sure.

What do you think , brothers.

Please tell me honestly

Very good point, have always seen Pakistan's 90s relative success and greats with a pinch of salt. Cameras really contributed immensely in Pakistan going down from being a top team to mid-tier.

 

[sweep_shot]

I can't debate about county cricket as I have limited knowledge. I am sure you are right.

But there's no doubt they had more of an appetite for international cricket and eventually promoted the idea themselves. Of course, getting pushed even more by Kerry Packer later. This is where modern cricket is different.

Now we're seeing things trend in a different direction.

Like you said, the Indian market is where the money is. Why would the BCCI or franchise owners want to share this with anyone else in the long term? They will want to keep as much of it as possible.

The decline in international cricket will be straightforward.

The IPL season is going to grow longer (maybe even have a second mini IPL season annually as a minor league) and the other leagues will be bought up by Indian owners (already happening) before becoming feeder leagues or redundant. International cricket will see the BCCI ask for more and more from the revenue split while reducing unnecessary away series.

I feel they will eventually only play in England, Australia, and ICC tournaments. Maybe Pakistan depending on politics at that time. Other countries might get tours but it will always be India's B or C team.

There's no solution to this because administrators follow the money. The BCCI is doing nothing wrong. But fans of international cricket are going to be in for a rude surprise soon. I might be wrong about the timeline as it might go past 10 years but it will happen.

Just look around the international cricket scene. No one even shows up for most ODIs and Tests in other countries barring the iconic series. Some show up for T20s here and there but they will show up for league cricket too.

No other sport is facing this issue. It is only happening in cricket and I think we know why.

The blame lies with greed and overcommercialization from BCCICC. It has completely ruined the beauty of cricket.

You are unlikely to see this type of nonsense with FIFA.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Against all hope and support of the good hearted people of the world, evil has won (for now)

What must the true cricket fans do to restore balance to world cricket?

This is easily the lowest cricket has been. Instead of the gentleman’s game it’s just a marketing plot device for India and BCCI.

How can we break the shackles that have been imposed by BCCI on cricket?

Should Pakistan, South Africa, England, NZ, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Australia pool resources as the other 9 titans of cricket to restore balance and ensure India is taken care of? Or is it too late?

What if in the next tournament India isn’t the host but want to play all their games in Mumbai? Then what?

We want cricket restored, asap

Oh, absolutely! Because, you know, Pakistan’s cricket problems are never about anything other than their board being a shining example of competence. I mean, who better to run a national sports body than someone who also has the pulse of the entire country’s interior ministry, right? Who needs cricket experts when you’ve got ministers doubling as cricket masterminds?


Clearly, everything is perfect in Pakistan cricket, and their issues are just a series of unfortunate coincidences. It’s not like there's any lack of development, corruption, or tiny little conflicts of interest when a country’s political leadership takes over running sports. Just a model of efficiency, really! Why bother with reform or proper governance when you can throw a bunch of random people into the mix and hope for the best? And if things don't work out.. there India to blame always. Cricket just runs itself, after all, right

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

No other sport is facing this issue. It is only happening in cricket and I think we know why.

The blame lies with greed and overcommercialization from BCCICC. It has completely ruined the beauty of cricket.

You are unlikely to see this type of nonsense with FIFA.

FIFA is already heavily commercialised. Do you even thing before posting? there is not much money in international football. The only events are Football WC and Euro... Else it is all leagues. How stupid can one be ?

 

[shah9425]

After ICC chose not to have a PCB official at the CT 2025 final tourney, we now know that ICC is in on it. And India is their champion.

Pakistan remains the people’s champion and have to work against BCCI and its lapdog ICC as well.

This is not over. The title was taken with dirty tricks and tactics, but we will see you at the next one, guns blazing. This time you caught us off guard by choosing your own venues to play, but next time we will be prepared.

There will always be a Fakhar, Azhar, Shoaib “Anchor” Malik or Mohammad Amir in the ranks to defeat you when you least expect it. For now, enjoy the win.

- Suleiman out.

Don't worry let them enjoy this hollow victory because a long drought is now coming for them

 

[Mesozoic]

Don't worry let them enjoy this hollow victory because a long drought is now coming for them

You guys coped with this same exact line last year after we won the T20 WC. And now we have won back to back .

More heartburn is loading...be prepared. Lack of bilaterals against India still somewhat kept Pakistanis interested in this sport but now seeing India winning multiple ICC trophies while your team keeps getting humiliated with group stage exits will only do what regular thrashings by India would have done already.

 

[shah9425]

You guys coped with this same exact line last year after we won the T20 WC. And now we have won back to back .

More heartburn is loading...be prepared. Lack of bilaterals against India still somewhat kept Pakistanis interested in this sport but now seeing India winning multiple ICC trophies while your team keeps getting humiliated with group stage exits will only do what regular thrashings by India would have done already.

We will see nothing lasts forever

You keep enjoying your rigged victories

 

[saimayubera]

We will see nothing lasts forever

You keep enjoying your rigged victories

Forever is a long time

 

[saimayubera]

You guys coped with this same exact line last year after we won the T20 WC. And now we have won back to back .

More heartburn is loading...be prepared. Lack of bilaterals against India still somewhat kept Pakistanis interested in this sport but now seeing India winning multiple ICC trophies while your team keeps getting humiliated with group stage exits will only do what regular thrashings by India would have done already.

Yup this is what hurts them.

Pakistan were pretty bad from the late 2000s. It's just that India were never this good lol.

 

[Shehmir]

Cricket boards will not take fight with BCCI as majority of their revenue generated while playing cricket with India

This is very unfortunate scenorio for cricket as commercial benefits

What revival. India won CT. They won 2 ICC trophies in the span of couple of months. They are dominating atm. Other teams, are not good enough to beat them. Simple.

Yeah BCCI has major influence on ICC but the India team is winning trophies fair and square.

Fair & square