Shoaib Akhtar slams ICC for yielding to BCCI after 'India can only save world game' claim

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar recently alleged that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its board members deliberately postponed this year's T20 World Cup. According to him, the apex body shifted the showpiece event to make way for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to stage their Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season.

The seventh edition of the T20 World Cup, originally scheduled to be played in Australia between October 18 and November 15 this year, has been indefinitely postponed due to the ongoing global pandemic. Recent reports now confirm that IPL 2020 will take up the timeframe as it will be staged between September 19 and November 8 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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Shoaib Akhtar takes a U-turn on his opinion of Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI

While speaking to Geo Cricket on YouTube, Shoaib Akhtar stated that the T20 World Cup should have been played this year instead of the IPL 2020. Taking a dig at BCCI and its President Sourav Ganguly, the former cricketer claimed that “ultimately a powerful man, or a powerful cricket board runs the policy and they make sure that everyone suffers”. He also slammed ICC by saying that in the next two years, cricket would be reduced to “just two World Cups and T20 leagues”. According to him, if the ICC keeps going “down that route”, they will “destroy cricket”.

Interestingly, the claims Shoaib Akhtar made on July 21 in his YouTube appearance are quite contrasting to the ones he made earlier this year. On January 5, he uploaded a 10-minute video on his YouTube channel after the news broke out that ICC are contemplating a possibility of organising four-day Tests in the future. In his video, the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ stated the importance of the format and explained why it should remain a five-day affair. He also pinned his hopes on BCCI President and his former on-field rival Sourav Ganguly to stop ICC from going ahead with their reported plans. Akhtar described the former Indian captain as an “intelligent man” who will “save cricket”.

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Shoaib Akhtar seeks help from Sourav Ganguly to “save cricket”, watch video

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Image credit: Shoaib Akhtar Twitter