 "India-Pakistan matches in Asia Cup 2025 was full of controversies as the games were played amid worsening relationships between the two nations. Image: AP")
Former England captain Michael Atherton has called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to stop “arranging” India vs Pakistan matches at global events, claiming that cricket is increasingly being used as a proxy for “broader tensions and propaganda” in the wake of the Asia Cup controversies. The former batter argued that cricket should stop “arranging” tournament fixtures just to make an economic gain.
Atherton’s comments were made after the controversial Asia Cup 2025, which saw both India and Pakistan trading constant jabs in a highly politically charged environment. The tournament took place just a few months after the Pahalgam terror attack and to respect the victims’ sentiments, Team India refused to shake hands with Pakistani players. The Pakistani players Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan were later seen making insensitive gestures.
And the tournament ended with more drama as Suryakumar Yadav refused to take the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) head Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s Interior Minister and PCB chairman.
Atherton wants ICC to stop ‘arranging’ IND vs PAK matches
Writing for The Times, the former England captain Atherton highlighted how important India-Pakistan matches are for cricket revenue. India and Pakistan have met each other in all ICC events since 2013.
“Despite its scarcity (maybe, in part, because of its scarcity), it is a fixture that carries huge economic clout, one of the main reasons why the broadcast rights for ICC tournaments are worth so much — roughly $3 billion for the most recent rights cycle in 2023-27,” he wrote.
“Due to the relative decline in the value of bilateral matches, ICC events have grown in frequency and importance, and so the India and Pakistan fixture is crucial to the balance sheets of those who would not otherwise have any skin in the game," he added.
However, Atherton argued that cricket should not become a “proxy” for propaganda merely to serve economic interests, and that it was high time the ICC adopted a more transparent fixture draw that did not guarantee an India vs Pakistan clash.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“If cricket was once the vehicle for diplomacy, it is now, clearly, a proxy for broader tensions and for propaganda. There is little justification, in any case, for a serious sport to arrange tournament fixtures to suit its economic needs, and now that the rivalry is being exploited in other ways, there is even less justification for it,” Atherton wrote.
“For the next broadcast rights cycle, the fixture draw before ICC events should be transparent, and if the two teams do not meet every time, so be it,” he added.
With India and Pakistan drawn in the same group, the Asia Cup 2025 fixtures were planned so that the two teams could face each other up to three times, and that’s exactly what happened.