KARACHI: World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) has given the fourth Blind T20 Cricket World Cup hosting rights to Pakistan ahead of the event in November 2024.
This will be the first time that a country other than India will host the World Cup. India has also won all of the previous editions of the T20 World Cups held in 2012, 2017 and 2022.
The Indian Blind team was the first to confirm its participation in the tournament with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa, Nepal and possibly the West Indies to participate in the World Cup in November.
India also came to Pakistan for the Blind Cricket World Cups in 2011 and 2014.
When asked about India’s hesitancy to participate in tournaments in Pakistan, WBCC President Syed Sultan Shah said that “the Indian Blind Cricket Team does not require NOCs from their government for overseas visits and tournaments”.
He added that “if they did not want to come then they would have said so right away that their government would not allow the team to tour Pakistan”.
“On the other hand, the Indian Blind Cricket Board showed readiness and excitement to play the World Cup in Pakistan,” he added.
The WBCC President also talked about the possible venues saying that “Karachi is a big international city so our first option to host the tournament will be Karachi but if the Sindh Government does not provide support, then there is a possibility of moving the event to Lahore.”
Shah confirmed that he wrote letters to the Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
“Murad Ali Shah gave us the go-ahead to carry out all of the necessary steps to host the event in Karachi.”
Shah will have a meeting with Sindh’s Sports Minister Muhammad Baksh Mehr and discuss preparation matters with him.
It should be noted that Pakistan will host the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 and India has been showing reluctance to participate in the tournament as the Indian government is not providing NOCs due to the strained political relations between the two countries. But with the Indian Blind team ready to visit Pakistan, it is seeming possible that the country will participate in the Champions Trophy next year.
Atique ur Rehman Atique ur Rehman is a senior reporter for Geo News.