Ever since Ramiz Raja was made the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board earlier this year, he had gone on a serious roll to get international media recognition towards the plight in which the game of cricket was on their own soil.

At the end of the day, the game is a business for all the countries that take part in it and the biggest reason they do so is to make money. The problem with Pakistani cricket, at least before December 2021, was the fact that most of the other countries and their players felt extremely unsafe going to the country which was infamous for lack of security, and international cricketers being fired up by terrorists out in the open.

Raja stirred up the cricket blocs, called out the Western nations like England, Australia and New Zealand to be cowards who are in India’s pockets, and did everything in his capabilities to make an international bilateral series happen on their own grounds when the West Indies agreed to play three T20Is and three ODIs with them throughout December.

To not take any credit away from the Pakistani cricketers, their incredible performance during the T20 World Cup also added a lot of weightage to their claims towards being recognised as a significant force of international cricket once again and their consistency in white-ball cricket is worth acknowledging.

CONGRATULATIONS!
Second T20I: Pakistan beat West Indies by nine runs
Pakistan win three-match series 2-0, third match to be played on Thursday. #PAKvWI #HumTouKhelainGey pic.twitter.com/dOoLVHdfxR

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 14, 2021

However, as mentioned before, a major aspect of cricket as a business is the team’s potential to bring in crowds to fill the stadiums, watch the matches and spend their money for entertainment, food and beverages, in order to make it a successful venture.

So when the Karanchi cricket ground failed to pull the crowd and empty seats all over the stadium became extremely prominent, Pakistani and international media were once again up against Ramiz Raja’s case. Former Pakistani skipper Wasim Akram also expressed his disgust with the whole situation and called out the PCB for the failure to bring cricket fans to the stands.

Incredibly sad to see an empty stadium in Karachi for the #PAKvWIt20 especially after the performance of Pakistan Team in the last month. I’m pretty sure I know why but I want to hear from you! Tell me, where is the crowd and why??

— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) December 14, 2021

According to reports, just 35% of tickets for the first T20 match were sold, while around 18,000 tickets remained unsold for the second match. As a failsafe, the PCB has now decided to allow free entry for the ODI series just to at least allow crowds to be a part of the game in the country.

But the series of challenges seems to be endless for the cricket board as they now have to deal with the new variant of the COVID-19 virus that could simply disrupt the bilateral series after nine members of the West Indies squad were tested positive.

The remainder of West Indies' tour of Pakistan is in doubt after five more members of the touring party tested positive for Covid-19 #PAKvWI

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 16, 2021

A further cancellation of the cricket in the country will cause severe damages to the PCB financially. Considering the rapid pace at which the new variant is spreading, this might very well be the last series on home soil for Pakistan for a really long time.

View the full article