1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:03,400 Hello everyone, welcome to the BCCI podcast. 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:07,400 We recorded this episode with Sharda, Emer and Asam Bhai on 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:09,560 the opening day of the T20 World Cup. 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:11,760 Since then, a few things have changed. 5 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:14,880 We've added short voice notes from the three of them right at 6 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,240 the start to catch you up. The bigger conversation still 7 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,960 remains the same. The sport feels a bit broken 8 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,440 right now. There are definitely less or 9 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,400 very little born homie between everyday fans across the 10 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,280 support. This podcast is just our small 11 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,280 way of keeping the conversation going and keeping that dialogue 12 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,480 alive. If you have press play, we 13 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,240 appreciate the commitment on to the episode. 14 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:45,720 Now Ek to PCB chairman, neh interior minister or state at 15 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:50,080 large Khaliya kafi favour kya to report. 16 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,960 Why concessions as a result of reversing the boycott Unmengui 17 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,440 SE cheese nahi hai, Just say Pakistan cricket could directly 18 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,480 find the whole. But of course on a diplomatic 19 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,960 level it does give them some points. 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,760 I think the juicy cheese Yeheke is boycott threaty. 21 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:15,560 That has shown that the PCB has some leverage over the ICC and 22 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:22,720 its broadcast revenues etcetera. And obviously is the far koi. 23 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,760 As I said, we we haven't there haven't been any concessions 24 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,080 reported for the Pakistan Cricket Board. 25 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,720 But in the future if there is some kind of conflict or 26 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,520 disagreement etcetera. So there is this threat that the 27 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:42,240 PCB can use again or at least that leverage is now known to 28 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:47,840 the BCCI or the ICC etcetera. So that might impact the future 29 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,680 going forward. No matter how this is spun by 30 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:56,440 the narrative control centre that is that worlds around, that 31 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,760 centres itself around the power brokers in Indian cricket, this 32 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,440 is pushed back by two countries that don't belong to the big 33 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,640 three. This is also demonstration of 34 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,759 the fact of the very obvious fact that if you're going to try 35 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:14,320 and drum up this TomTom, this your circus, the way you do, the 36 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,160 way the ICC does, the way the Indian cricket broadcasters do 37 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,840 about or I assume Pakistani cricket broadcasters do. 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:26,480 I'm, I'm unaware of the, the big rivalry that you have all the 39 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,400 time. This shows you the, this is the 40 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,360 most obvious thing that for this rivalry, you need 2 teams to 41 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:34,520 play. You need there to be a 42 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:39,640 respectful acceptance of you, of of you and the adversary, you 43 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,960 and the competition, you and your and your opposition. 44 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:47,120 You know, it's just that this is the, this is the, this, this is 45 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,320 the thing that has been again, been highlighted in a manner 46 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,040 that everybody in cricket will notice that it's happened 47 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,040 because it's not, it has not happened for the past, I don't 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,520 know, decade plus. We're hearing stories about it 49 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,840 every whatever everyone says about the role of politics in 50 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,280 cricket should not be there. That's a bit that's a bit late 51 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:10,640 in the day, but I think it's an important thing to note and also 52 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:15,800 maybe for the ICC to look at the fact that the way they are, you 53 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,200 know, trying they cook the groups every time. 54 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:23,680 It's, it's, it's a bit shoddy. It's, it's a bit, it's a bit non 55 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:25,800 classy, let me say. And they need to rethink how how 56 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,280 they're going to do this. The fact that Bangladesh will 57 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,360 not receive sanctions for having said we are not going to play in 58 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:38,320 India, it's it to be noted, it's it's unfortunate that they won't 59 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,200 be Bangladesh in this World Cup. We moved on from that now and 60 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:43,560 Scotland have already had had a game in yesterday. 61 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,480 It'll be sad, but it's been there. 62 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:49,360 But they won't be punished for this. 63 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:51,160 They'll get an ICC event for this. 64 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,160 And there were reports in Cricinfo that talked about 65 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,160 taking a look at the redistribution of revenues. 66 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,720 I don't know how that will go because you know, if there's one 67 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,720 thing that the Cricket Australia and ECB want to protect, it's 68 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,080 their, it's their accounts, it's their share of the pie. 69 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:08,960 But I think this is a, this is a big development. 70 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,760 The reason I think it's an important development is not 71 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,680 because, you know, it'll shake the foundations of how cricket 72 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,399 is run in the world at all or, or, or the power or the hegemony 73 00:04:18,399 --> 00:04:23,320 of of the BCCI on, on the global game and on other smaller member 74 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,520 boards. But it actually shows you how 75 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:29,640 problems. Could be can be addressed? 76 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,040 I mean this should have. Happened actually maybe 10 days 77 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,760 ago, 15 days ago when this whole when the, when the Bangladesh 78 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:41,600 situation started to rumble, This is how you you went and you 79 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,480 had a conversation with them. You know, apparently they said 80 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,160 yes, yes, we did have a conversation. 81 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:50,280 We did have online meetings and all the rest of it, but I would 82 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:53,440 not I would not the best is coming on out of that, out of 83 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,640 that from narrative control centers, I call it. 84 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:57,640 But just threats. This will happen. 85 00:04:57,640 --> 00:04:58,920 That will happen. You will not be able to play 86 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,400 bilateral cricket only, you know, that kind of stuff that 87 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,040 was there. So basically it was like dumkey 88 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,520 and you don't deal with your member countries with dumkey. 89 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:12,560 I mean the that play. So it's interesting that it was 90 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:17,400 from the ICC. It was Imran Khaja who went to 91 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:23,480 talk with the PCB and, and the BCB was also there. 92 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:24,960 Bangladesh Cricket Board people were also there. 93 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:27,480 And it wasn't either the chairman or the CEO. 94 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,040 And they'll say, OK, we didn't get visas, which is a reasonable 95 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,920 answer, which is reasonable. You know, it's, it's very 96 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,240 possible. But you would want them to be 97 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:38,680 part of the online meetings, I assume. 98 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:40,440 You'd want them to be a press conference, I assume. 99 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,800 But there's nothing you know, there's at that end, there is 100 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,640 sort of silence. I think it's a very interesting 101 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,840 development in in, in the wider context of world cricket going 102 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:56,440 forward. I think the the usual narrative 103 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:03,480 was in the last say, 10-15 years that BCCI will rule the roost 104 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,640 and everything will be, you know, decided by them and 105 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:08,760 they'll call the shots. Of course, I think they will 106 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,960 keep calling the shots, but I think PCB has shown that 107 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,400 resistance can come in many forms. 108 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:22,640 And maybe holding that India Pakistan match ransom was a way 109 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:29,800 to, you know, deflect a bit of, you know, I mean, just just 110 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:36,680 showing up to the BCCI or the ICC that, you know, things can 111 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,480 be, the can, can be, can go wrong if you're taking too much 112 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,280 control. So I think on that front, I 113 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:46,600 mean, however PCB has done it, they have done it. 114 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:52,480 And yeah, I think it's, it's very smart of them to not take a 115 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,080 lot of things in return for the dispute. 116 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,760 I think the dispute itself was to their favour ultimately. 117 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,320 And I, I feel that what Bangladesh has got, it's not a 118 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,360 lot, but it's the acknowledgement that they would 119 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,000 that they have been craving from the ICC, the attention they got 120 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,520 the ICC attention. And I think the extra ICC event 121 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,480 will be a boost if if it actually pans out that way. 122 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,200 You know, they were supposed to be Co hosts of 2031 World Cup 123 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,720 with India, but 2028, it's likely to be an under 19 World 124 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:28,760 Cup. So they're getting that. 125 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,040 And the fact that there will not be any strong punishment against 126 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:39,400 Bangladesh, that is a good sign. But I feel that overall it was 127 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,600 a, it was a win for the PCB in this situation. 128 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:48,480 And, you know, maybe going forward, this, this sort of mess 129 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:53,280 is not welcome in world cricket. But from a, from a diplomatic 130 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,520 standpoint or from a, from a situation where one country is 131 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,480 calling all the shots, maybe this is the first time that we 132 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:09,360 have seen some resistance. So second hundred to be 133 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,880 successive also wonder like, you know, ideologically you should 134 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,840 boycott Pakistan. Like, you know, the, the, the 135 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,080 Taliban has made unpopular decisions because that's what 136 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,440 their ideology states. Lots of people make unpopular 137 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,720 ideological decisions, but you keep playing Pakistan and and 138 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,160 it's not like you love Pakistan. You're not going to shake hands. 139 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,640 You're going to celebrate with a fake trophy and whatever. 140 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:34,760 So that sort of disappointed by the lack of ideological 141 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:39,360 adherence that the BJP has shown because both from, you know, 142 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,480 either you could have gone the Arnab way and, and just boycott 143 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,520 everything, blah, blah, blah, or you could have gone the Saudi 144 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,760 way and use this to project your power, even if it goes against 145 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,520 your core ideology. The fact that they've did 146 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,200 nothing, the fact that they've been so unambitious that to me 147 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,320 honestly, like, you know, 2016 Amir could not have predicted 148 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:04,320 that at all. And and that's been kind of the 149 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:05,360 whole of Bengal are on their feet. 150 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,120 Not that important. He's gone. 151 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,800 The next ball, the dream is diminished. 152 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,320 For Carlos Brathwaite. All right, so let me take you 153 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:25,560 back to 2000 and four. 2004 is the year where India tours 154 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:30,640 Pakistan and it's the same year when Farah Khan released Mehuna. 155 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,520 Mayhuna was about releasing prisoners from either side of 156 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,520 India and Pakistan and the man who eventually made it happen 157 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:43,040 was Major Ram Prasad Sharma AKA Shahrukh Khan. 158 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:47,760 Somehow in 2026, if you think about it, everything that's 159 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,560 happening in international cricket around us goes back to 160 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:53,680 Shahrukh Khan. It's important to share that you 161 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:57,840 must focus on Shahrukh surname. He's the co-owner of Kolkata 162 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:02,080 Knight Riders and was asked by the BCCI to remove Mustafizur 163 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,680 Rahman, the Bangladesh cricketer, from his team while 164 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:09,400 on the same evening Shakib Al Hasan played for Mumbai Indians 165 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:14,080 franchise in the ILT 20. I don't think Shahrukh can 166 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,600 execute any Project Milap for his beloved game cricket. 167 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:22,240 But the closest we can is by keeping a line of communication 168 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,280 open between people from all countries. 169 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,160 Exclusion is a Hindutva mechanism, inclusion is a 170 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:33,360 western concept. To execute this smallest project 171 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,240 MILAP not just between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and the 172 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:40,480 rest of the subcontinent, we have with us Sharda Ugra, 173 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:47,360 Muhammad, Assam and Amar Naqvi joining Richa, Sarthak, Nishant 174 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:49,760 and I for this blockbuster of a podcast. 175 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,920 So welcome to the pod, Sharda, Isambhai and Amar. 176 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,800 Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. 177 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,280 Yeah, but Kabhi Khushi, Kabhi Ghamwala cast like, you know, 178 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:04,600 all all the big hitters are here, please. 179 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:07,720 Thank you. Thank you guys for inviting me, 180 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,360 right? So my first even. 181 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,640 That emerge come late, Even that emerge come late is he Shahrukh 182 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,240 Khan because he's come from the chopper. 183 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:20,080 That's a really good point, but I think only Sharda can be 184 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,480 Sharda. There's that's king for king. 185 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:25,400 There's. There's no other comparison in 186 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,360 this era. I'm not arguing at all in this 187 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:33,400 matter, being a person not given to any kind of argument. 188 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:39,040 Alright then my first question is to Sharda Rajdeep asked on 189 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,320 his channel. Have we become bullies? 190 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,840 Not to reuse this question but it seems to be rejected a lot by 191 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,880 Indian commentators. They say this is the ICC not 192 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,320 BCCI. There was a board vote 14 to 2 193 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,560 and that's why, and our venue was changed months before, not 194 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:57,640 just within a month. So I ask a question that Richard 195 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,520 has asked on this part previously to quite a few 196 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,000 people. Who does international cricket 197 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,760 exist to serve? Oh, I have to answer the 198 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,680 question you need in theory or in practice. 199 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,680 You can. You can decide to answer in 200 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:14,200 whatever way you want, you know there. 201 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:19,920 Was a point in time where the BCCI used to blame everything on 202 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:21,920 ICC. Now I'm talking back like 10-15 203 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:23,840 years, KRAICC, Nokia and all that. 204 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:26,920 And if there was something against, let's say, you know, 205 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:28,920 players go for a contract you have to sign for ambush 206 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,360 marketing or whatever. And all of us kept saying, look, 207 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,280 all of you are ICC, correct? There is this whole body of 208 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,120 people which includes England, Australia, India, South Africa, 209 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:43,400 Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies and 210 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,080 you're all ICC. So that's why you're there. 211 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,400 Now this 14 two number that they give is quite comic for the 212 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,760 simple reason that we know why 14 is 14 and why 2 is 2. 213 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,840 You know, it's very, very obvious that the ICC has become 214 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,960 a body that is largely serving the interest of a cricket body, 215 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,440 which is the largest in the in the in the world and is the one 216 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,800 that has the most money and therefore uses that money to 217 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:11,480 open quotes, bully people, close quotes. 218 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,840 So yeah, that's the answer. That is, have we become the 219 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:17,080 bullies? It's been a while. 220 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,920 You know, it's been, say, maybe for the last eight years, 10 221 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,880 years, you know, because of the fact when you change the revenue 222 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:24,440 distribution, you changed everything. 223 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,400 You know, you changed the whole, the whole game in that sense. 224 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,520 Shanti, you wrote a wonderful article today and that we'll 225 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,040 urge all of our readers to go through with some Hindustan 226 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,600 Times. And you wrote about, you know, 227 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:39,120 the the grandest of all World Cups and how T20 World Cup truly 228 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,040 at least I mean, the 50 World Cup has a legacy been going for 229 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,120 it. But T20 World Cup truly captures 230 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,040 the idea that the World Cup should be for everybody. 231 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:50,640 And we will, we will this time miss Bangladesh. 232 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:52,800 Can you talk through the article? 233 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:57,800 I mean, we have this kind of an abrasive reaction to T20 World 234 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,360 Cup in general. And just can you, can you help 235 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,400 our readers understand the atmosphere that we're trying to 236 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:05,040 capture, you try to capture in your article? 237 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:07,120 Thanks. Thank you, Sartik, for your very 238 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,240 kind words. I mean, The thing is that I have 239 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,600 always been a fan of T20 internationals. 240 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,400 I'm not a franchise cricket fan. I understand the model. 241 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,840 I understand why it's successful and how it's important and all 242 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,120 the rest of it. But I love T20 International 243 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,440 because it is an Internet. I mean, I'm used to nation 244 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:22,760 versus nation cricket. I love it. 245 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,080 And because it's so mad and crazy and everyone says it 246 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,600 shouldn't be held every two years, OK, maybe yes, but it's 247 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,280 it's held every two years. I don't mind because it's 248 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:32,840 literally gets over within three weeks. 249 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,320 And it's just you get crazy results. 250 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,040 You get all kinds of team doing mad things. 251 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,760 We're seeing what's happened within the space of 12 hours 252 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,720 that Pakistan almost got toppled by Netherlands and I7 down 253 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:44,760 against 8 download against United States. 254 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,760 You know, so you won't get those kind of mad kind of results if 255 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,680 you're playing, say 50 over cricket or if you're playing 256 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,640 Test cricket and so on. So that's the beauty of it. 257 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,960 That's all the all the all the madness that comes into it. 258 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,040 I'm I'm really happy that there are 20 teams. 259 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,360 And I know that I was forwarded a piece that you had done that 260 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,760 PCI had done on sub stack about this thing of matches being 261 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,920 blows, being blowouts. If you have these more teams. 262 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,160 And that's a great example to say like, you know, just don't 263 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:14,320 brush everything under one random brush because it suits 264 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,840 something that it suits the purpose that you that, that, 265 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:18,920 that you want. And the more teams that play 266 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,560 cricket, the better. I mean, and the smaller teams 267 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:23,720 that come from smaller countries, even more fantastic. 268 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,320 You know, I'm, I'm a great, I'm a big sucker for sports movies 269 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,880 and whatever and that I saw and sort of, you know, videos and 270 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:33,640 songs and whatever. I really enjoy them. 271 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:39,240 So the I even wrote in my in the piece that it's for HD that the 272 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,000 this is our year, Karke. There is a feel, the thrill or 273 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,920 something that I don't even know the song, but it's a great song. 274 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,720 It's a great like it's got all this bhangra beat and it's got 275 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:50,600 everything. Then people who say it's shaped 276 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:53,040 and it's not sophisticated and all of that, but I just love it. 277 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,240 And in that you've got all these visuals of teams from 278 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:57,840 everywhere, including Oman and including. 279 00:15:58,040 --> 00:15:59,640 And then suddenly you see Scotland and say there's 280 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:01,480 Bangladesh and there are those tigers, you know, the stuffed 281 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:02,120 tigers. Why? 282 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:03,760 Why they're not there? There's lots of Pakistan, 283 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,960 there's large roses of India, Australia and all the other 284 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:09,240 teams. But you see that then you see 285 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:13,160 the game and it's variety and it's, it's sort of eccentricity 286 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:14,960 and, and, and, and, and and all of that. 287 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,480 So that's what I felt bad about is that we won't have Bangladesh 288 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,680 in this because suppose Bangladesh are not any people 289 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,400 not qualified. Then you took it, they didn't 290 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:24,720 make it, you know, for whatever reason. 291 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,520 But this is like completely, it just feels so wrong. 292 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,920 And that I wrote that piece about the, the, the beauty of 293 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,640 T20 World Cups is that it's it's the the so Rashish from 294 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,320 Hindustan Times. And he not he actually, I just 295 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:39,520 read it. I said, shit, I wish I thought 296 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:41,880 of that. He called it the People's World 297 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:43,480 Cup. And everybody loves 2020 298 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:44,840 cricket. Everybody can relate to it. 299 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,080 You know, she called it the People's World Cup. 300 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,240 And I said I should have thought of that, but I did, you know, 301 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,280 but but shout out to Rashish Madani for for that in his 302 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:54,160 article also in the Hindustan Times today. 303 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,320 So yeah, basically that's what that's what the piece is about. 304 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,040 So keeping the sadness of the fans in mind, I wanted to start 305 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,200 with Isan bhai with you. What has been the reaction in 306 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,640 Bangladesh to the fans finding out that, you know, they're not 307 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,560 going to be playing in this World Cup, they're not going to 308 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,960 get to go to the Eden Gardens and, you know, celebrate along 309 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,280 with their team. And they're really passionate 310 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:19,119 fans. Thank you. 311 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:20,520 Thank you for your question, Richard. 312 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:25,599 You'll be surprised to know that there are fans who are actually, 313 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,040 you know, there are fans who are not not too unhappy that 314 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,000 Bangladesh and played the World Cup, if you could believe that. 315 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,520 I mean, whether they're fans or not, you can ask that question, 316 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:45,560 but it goes back a little. It has two basic explanations 317 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:50,120 that that you can add. It's firstly, obviously there's 318 00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:53,160 an anti India rhetoric in Bangladesh right now, which is 319 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,960 being pushed hard by the interim government who came to power on 320 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:02,320 on on in August 2024 on the back of the army league existing the 321 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:07,840 country in in a violent, you know, student revolution where 322 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:11,680 plenty of, you know, thousands of students were killed by the 323 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,000 government. Obviously they didn't take any 324 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:19,240 responsibility for that. And since the the deposed Prime 325 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,840 Minister went to India, it, you know, solidified the hatred that 326 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:26,400 people had towards India from a political standpoint and from a 327 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,520 popularity, from a populist standpoint. 328 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:34,800 I think although Bangladesh did travel to India in October 2024, 329 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,200 I think September, October when they played two Test matches in 330 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,920 3T20 eyes, it was mostly incident free at that time and 331 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,680 not many questions were asked about that tour, which is 332 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,920 strange because you know, it was just after the revolution and 333 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,080 with Sheikh Hasina already in New Delhi, you know, wasn't it 334 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:55,120 didn't really have a lot of effect on the fans or or the 335 00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:57,240 general public. But this one came in the back of 336 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:02,920 a number of political incidents over throughout December. 337 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,560 Towards the end of December, 1 major incident happened. 338 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,600 And then there are fringe groups which have become extra violent 339 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:16,400 in the last six or eight months. And they are mostly anti Indian 340 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:21,960 and anti anti Indian, I would say stance that they have. 341 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:28,440 So by the time the Mustafi's incident reached our ears, it, 342 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:33,440 it was already at A at an edge. And then you had the Mustafi's 343 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,600 thing happening. And when the sports advisor also 344 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,160 happens to be the country's law advisor, like the law minister, 345 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,680 sports minister, they're now called advisors because they're 346 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:47,400 indeed their government. The initial initially, because 347 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,200 of how the comments are on Facebook, it was pretty much 348 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,880 like, yeah, don't go to India. Let's not go to India if they 349 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,200 cannot, if they're if they're going to withdraw Mustafi's, 350 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,360 that's our way of protesting. It went on for a while. 351 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:06,120 And then when it came to the around mid Jan, when, when the 352 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:09,640 ICC started to say that if you don't play in India, you're not 353 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,320 going to play in the World Cup. You know, some fans have told 354 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,800 me. It's not just people that I 355 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:18,560 know. I've heard it online as well, 356 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,400 that since Bangladesh, they don't do well in World Cups. 357 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,280 You know, let's just sit this one out. 358 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,920 It was out of frustration, out of anger, you know, But it's not 359 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,080 the general point of view, Richard. 360 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:32,160 It's not the general point of view. 361 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:36,000 But there are certain opinions that were never heard before, 362 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,040 but because of how this discourse was presented in front 363 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,040 of them that, you know, if you don't go to India, it's a 364 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,400 political stance, but it's a it's a popular stance. 365 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,840 It was popular. I'll be very honest with you. 366 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:52,440 It was very popular. And it turned out to be sort of 367 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,880 like a government master stroke in the sense that it did 368 00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:00,880 galvanized a lot of people. Whether it is anti cricket, we 369 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,280 can discuss it. But I think to answer your 370 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,080 question, yeah. I mean, fans are going to miss 371 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,000 the World Cup because now that the World Cup has already 372 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,240 started, you know, I can. He had a few murmurs like they 373 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:13,760 could have gone, you know, they could have played. 374 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,640 What if they were playing? Someone was telling me the other 375 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,560 day, a casual follower, that, you know, it's still the World 376 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:21,840 Cup. It was good condition. 377 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,320 The team was doing well. You know, what if they did go? 378 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:30,240 But again, that that thought process that the, that a large 379 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,000 group of people in Bangladesh had that, OK, let's not go to 380 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,320 India, let's go to Sri Lanka and play. 381 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,040 They still have time. People thought that, you know, 382 00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:38,400 they could have changed things in, in like a month. 383 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:41,680 I mean, people, there were a lot, lots of jokes around. 384 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,720 But there was one particular line that I remember that 385 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,320 remember the 2023 World Cup and the ICC named everything very 386 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:50,360 late. I think the schedule was out 387 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:52,040 very late, like in the last minute. 388 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,240 So they said if it, if they can do it so late, I mean, without 389 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,360 knowing all the details and they're just saying that if they 390 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:01,920 can do it that late, why can't they change the venue for one 391 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,840 team a month or so before the tournament? 392 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,640 Anyways, lots of discussions on those topics here in Bangladesh. 393 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:11,640 But right now it has gone a little quiet. 394 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,200 I mean, there's a, there's a, there's a timely tournament 395 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:18,200 happening in, in, in Dhaka right now with all the Bangladesh 396 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,640 players being asked to play and the BCBS trying to make it, you 397 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,760 know, the BCBS trying to make make it a bit of a fun 398 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,520 experience for everyone with bands, you know, rock bands 399 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,040 coming in for the, for the matches as well. 400 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,680 But I mean, everyone is pretty clear what we are missing out. 401 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:39,760 So I have the same question to Emma, from the Pakistani fan 402 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,120 point of view, what have you been hearing? 403 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:47,120 Like are the Pakistani fans? I don't know. 404 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:49,840 Because all the Pakistani colleagues and friends that I 405 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,280 have here, they first of all are not that much into cricket. 406 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,400 So. And for them, it's like, you 407 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,200 know, I guess Tom Hardy got there, so might as well not 408 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,560 play. But have you been hearing 409 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,680 something else or like, what do you think? 410 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,080 Like it? You're on mute. 411 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:08,480 Sorry. Yeah. 412 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:15,000 So I think first of all, within Pakistan and obviously it's very 413 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,040 hard to speak for the fandom and particularly like I'm not much 414 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,880 on social media etcetera. So I'm not going to pretend I 415 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,200 can speak for everyone. But personally, and maybe in my 416 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:30,280 peer like appears, one thing that's been really shocking has 417 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:35,120 been seeing how oblivious the general cricketing world is 418 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:40,560 about what's going on, right? And so I thought of this while I 419 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:42,400 was waiting to speak and it's really good. 420 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,960 It might not be relevant, but like, I just want to give my 421 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,760 flowers to Sharda because I said she's Shahrukh, right? 422 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,120 Like if you look at Bollywood in the late 80s, it, it's all these 423 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:57,240 like men who are big muscles and angry and don't smile and can't 424 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,960 act. Bollywood's kind of losing its, 425 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,080 its flair. And it's just this agro macho 426 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,400 kind of place. And then this guy comes around 427 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,160 Shahrukh and he's both like, he's both more intense than your 428 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,440 Sunny Deols and Sanjay Dutts. And he's also more charming than 429 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,440 them. I think Sharda is like that 430 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:20,760 because all the rest of your, you know, cricket media, not 431 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,280 just in India as all these big Sanjay Dutts and Sunny Deols and 432 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:29,720 be like, how dare Pakistan do anything like let's let's I want 433 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,280 to call out some Goras also, right? 434 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,760 So let's go with Jeff Lemon. Jeff Lemon in this rant on 435 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,360 Pakistan being nihilistic, this and that. 436 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:42,960 Great, great points. He says Bangladesh absented 437 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,720 themselves from the tournament. And And I want to focus on that 438 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,160 because I think as a Pakistani, I was really shocked by how 439 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,680 things were being phrased by the rest of the global media to make 440 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,920 sense of what's going on. So Jeff Levin says Bangladesh 441 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,880 absented themselves and it's a remarkable control of the 442 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:06,000 English language to come up with this reality based on what's 443 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,760 actually happening. Because obviously we know 444 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,760 Bangladesh was expelled and was expelled because one of its 445 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:15,800 players was being given threats publicly that the Indian cricket 446 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:20,200 board did nothing about. I assume Jeff Lemon is, you 447 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,400 know, aware of these things, but I, I don't understand what world 448 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,040 he called it absent themselves. I'll give you another example. 449 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:34,200 Matt Hughes in the Guardian last night wrote he wrote that there 450 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,240 is a $3 billion deal between Geostar and the ICC and it's 451 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,000 predicated on Pakistan playing India in every tournament, which 452 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,400 is, by the way, not written into the contract. 453 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,520 And so he says, because every tournament is supposed to have a 454 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,440 Pakistan India game and because the deal is $3 billion, 455 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:57,000 therefore every Pakistan India game is worth 500 million U.S. 456 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,040 dollars to the international economy. 457 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,560 And and that's what we're losing by boycotting this match. 458 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,200 I think like even a child can understand that this kind of 459 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,760 logic is stupid and flawed. So to me, I really like, you 460 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,760 know, it's one thing for the Vikrant Guptas of the world to 461 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:15,640 be batting for the Indian cricket board. 462 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,800 I really don't understand why the Gora journalists are going 463 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,640 around and doing this. And so as a Pakistani, I feel 464 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,840 like there's definitely the sense of like, what world are we 465 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,920 living in because we're able to call this out. 466 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,280 And again, like, I, you know, Pakistani, am I talking about 467 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,000 the interior minister who has our board? 468 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:36,440 Am I talking about the fans? Whatever. 469 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,000 I'm just speaking to normal Pakistanis. 470 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,360 I think in that sense that reaction has been a bit shocking 471 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:48,760 to see that, you know, people who are paid to analyze the game 472 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:54,240 are saying such short sighted things about it and have such 473 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,840 little understanding of how the game operates. 474 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,720 Like if you really think that a bystander game is worth 500 475 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:04,480 million U.S. dollars and no other game has any value, then 476 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,120 maybe you should think about what it implies when one of 477 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:12,320 those boards are kicking out teams or setting up hybrid 478 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,680 tournaments or refusing to play other teams or refusing to let 479 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,160 players play. So I think, you know, to, to 480 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,760 answer your question like you're the Pakistanis I think are, are 481 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:26,680 a bit flabbergasted because there is, again, maybe they're 482 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,880 not or I, you know, they're making a huge generalization. 483 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:33,840 But for me at least, it's been pretty surprising to see that 484 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:38,080 ostensibly neutral journalists with a really good sense of 485 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,800 politics and culture, etcetera, are still coming away and seeing 486 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:44,880 really silly things, really basic things. 487 00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:48,240 I think there's no doubt that Pakistan's decision was 488 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,880 politically motivated. There's no doubt that the 489 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,440 current setup in Pakistan is benefiting hugely from the 490 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,360 propaganda when that came from this, particularly as a very, 491 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:01,720 very major issues happening in other arenas in Pakistan that 492 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,640 that this is a welcome distraction from. 493 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,640 But I think within the cricketing world, the fact that 494 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:11,960 so many people are not even able to understand why this happened, 495 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:16,240 what led to this happening. I think that's is is just really 496 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,120 upsetting. It's really worrying. 497 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:23,200 It's it's kind of pathetic that this is the level of insight 498 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,560 that the game's best minds have to offer. 499 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:27,920 Yeah, I think so. I'm going to bring it I. 500 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:29,240 Was most disappointed. Sorry. 501 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,880 Yeah, I was just saying it. The most disappointing thing was 502 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,880 from Jeff for me as well because yes, usually the final word, 503 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,840 they understand what's going on or at least, you know, they 504 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,840 speak out loud. But yeah, I also heard what he 505 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,320 said. And very disappointing. 506 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,440 Yeah. So I think the most interesting 507 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:53,000 thing that I have read so far, the most interesting take on 508 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,040 this is from front of the pod, Sushant Singh. 509 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,760 He says that pointing out Pakistan's dysfunction does not 510 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,400 justify India's actions. Right. 511 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:08,120 And this like if Pakistan, Pakistan's problem is chaos and 512 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,400 incompetence, India's is something more sinister, 513 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,040 systematic and corrosive to the sport itself. 514 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,040 The BCCI in India is no longer a sporting body like that is. 515 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:20,840 You hit the nail on the head here. 516 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:26,600 And it's really shocking to me that commentators in in 517 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,720 Australia are not getting this. But for some reason, I think 518 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:31,880 English commentators are, which has been interesting. 519 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:35,840 Like Nasser Hussain, he's still, he's still spoken literally the 520 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,080 mildest terms. Like he literally said, OK, if 521 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,360 India or Australia come in and say a month before the 522 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,240 tournament that, you know, we don't want to play here, let's 523 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,640 change this into a more hybrid setting. 524 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:52,000 You know, would, would the ICC accept this request or not? 525 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:57,120 And, you know, just pointing out in very simple, basic terms that 526 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,600 there's so much unfairness in the system here. 527 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,080 And I want to bring in Sharda now is I just want to say like, 528 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,720 what are your thoughts on what NASA Hussain said and the the 529 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,680 meltdown that happened after that on the Internet and 530 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,360 everywhere specifically because it was NASA, I'm saying. 531 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,800 By the way, before Shardless comes today, I think there is an 532 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,240 sorry for today, there's an express article or yesterday 533 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,440 that Nasir Hussain said to commentate on T20 World Cup 534 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,520 despite siding with Pakistan on India, Pakistan issues. 535 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,520 I mean that too is beyond like beyond even commenting. 536 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:33,800 Emma, please thank you for many flattering things you have said. 537 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:39,920 They are so happy. But I'm just saying here that so 538 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,600 NASA said absolutely the right thing. 539 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:43,560 There was one more common value at it. 540 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,920 Apparently this is I had, I was in my outside the outside 541 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,760 Bangalore city, all this madness. 542 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:55,240 So apparently Peter Lala and Gideon said Pakistan is only 543 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,200 relevant to the cricketing world due to his rivalry with India. 544 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,360 Let's help. What is the meaning of this? 545 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,160 I mean, I should not get agitated and such only 546 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:07,280 absolutely the harridan kind of, you know, hysterical woman 547 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,880 trope. I'm just, I could not believe it 548 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,880 when I read it. I was like, yeah, like, you have 549 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:18,400 just taken like erased 75 years of a cricketing history of 550 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,760 stars, players, reverse swing, everything. 551 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:26,440 I mean, what is this? Every country is cricket exists 552 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,040 in it's own way and it interacts with all other countries that 553 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:29,760 take place. Cricket. 554 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,520 OK, number one. Then your point about the 555 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:35,280 richer, what you're saying about what? 556 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,440 It's all fine. My other grouse, which I'm 557 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,600 coming back to here, which I'll say every time no Australian 558 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,400 cricket journalist or English cricket journalist goes after 559 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,800 their board for being sidekicks to BCCI is bullying you. 560 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,920 Please tell me I've said this before. 561 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:50,640 I mean, they're just, they're just sitting quietly. 562 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,600 They're saying nothing. You should actually, I mean, 563 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,840 suppose you had turned this into, instead of 14/2, it had 564 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,480 become 10/4. It doesn't mean that they would 565 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,280 have won. But you've got 2 stronger 566 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,280 countries saying I don't think this is the right thing to do. 567 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,960 Oh, why are you not doing it? That's, you know, when, when, 568 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,920 when just so the meltdown that came on to NASA, I have not 569 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:13,080 read. I do not know. 570 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,640 Allison Mitchell did a podcast, very sort of sober reasoned and 571 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,560 the same podcast, but she had a great line in that in which she 572 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:26,200 said that she asked the question is world cricket, a castle built 573 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:27,520 on sand. So listen. 574 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,200 Yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a question to ask. 575 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:32,920 You know what she found out about this? 576 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,440 They were they were talking Chi Charu Sharma and there was 577 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,240 another person in Australia and sorry, I didn't get his name. 578 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,760 He was Glenn Maxwell who normally does the does the 579 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:47,160 program and I was just thinking that this is a world game. 580 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,080 Why do you guys stop thinking about the fact that its a world 581 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,480 game and along with BCCI is whatever it is, there are these 582 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,360 other two big, is that a city? Absolutely silent on this. 583 00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:00,320 There is no sense of responsibility that you have for 584 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,480 anybody other than your own. I I, I get very, I get very 585 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,160 angry as his CE OS and his new yacht every year and all, which 586 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,040 is absolutely it's like $500 million on a statement like 587 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:11,840 that. Yeah, I have a calculation. 588 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,920 Now suddenly the second narrative that started is that 589 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,160 no, actually this match doesn't matter that much. 590 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,320 You don't do that much money. OK, then why have you played 591 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:21,680 them all? Why do you put them in the same 592 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,120 group all the time? Why do you play them at least 593 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,240 twice against each other? What is the point of this that 594 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:28,920 you're doing? You know, so there is so much 595 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:33,800 of, I don't know, like I don't know, the spinelessness is the 596 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:39,600 right word or there's so much of hypocrisy and so much of, you 597 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,920 know, trying to create some, you know, there's a great phrase. 598 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,440 Give it to me by 111 cricketer friend of mine, one of the few 599 00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,200 that I have bubble of bullshit. There is like a bubble of 600 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,840 bullshit that goes on the whole time when it comes to 601 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,640 discussions where you actually can say straight things. 602 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:55,760 No, you're just sitting in this bubble of bullshit and talking 603 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:57,600 nonsense. And OK, social media is also 604 00:33:57,600 --> 00:33:59,560 adding to it. And I'm not saying no that 605 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,000 social media doesn't have a say when it comes to attacking 606 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,040 people or not. But this is bubble of bullshit. 607 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,240 Only this I this whole conversation and narrative 608 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,199 building and fans and not fans. I mean people who are saying, 609 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,120 hey, conversation, this is what the money. 610 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:21,280 There's no transparent sort of accounting of what this money 611 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:22,600 is. What is the share? 612 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,239 You only have some percentage calculation. 613 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:26,239 You have worked out that Australia and England are 614 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,360 quietly sitting over that their revenue distribution model. 615 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,159 And that's what they're doing. And because you agree to that, 616 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:35,639 you, you're all in this position where this you are being ordered 617 00:34:35,639 --> 00:34:38,600 round by by by BCCI because they they control the purse, they 618 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,440 control the money. And Speaking of its effects 619 00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:46,800 also, I mean, I think if there is a underestimation of what the 620 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,679 effect of the purse is, I think the ostracization of Pakistani 621 00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:52,639 cricketers within the global game is quite underestimated. 622 00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:56,480 We just think, OK, we don't play them, but IMT 20 May only desert 623 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,800 wipers as Pakistani cricketers if I'm not mistaken. 624 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,640 And once Indian owners have SAT 20, they all already have all 625 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,720 the teams in SAT SA 20. Once they start having teams in 626 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:08,800 England and Australia, there will be an obvious impact that 627 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:12,840 will happen there and as that's happening in the ILT 20 league 628 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,520 there. Is that effect in England 629 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:18,440 already already right? In some way I wanted to ask, is 630 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:20,120 there a fear? Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, 631 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:21,160 sorry. Please go ahead One second on 632 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:25,080 that NASAR and Michael Atherton interview. 633 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,640 I think they did say that the ECB was going to be very careful 634 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:30,880 and, and, and keep track that everyone should be allowed to 635 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:32,480 play. I mean, I would be very happy if 636 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:33,960 that happened. Sorry, you can go ahead with the 637 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:34,520 questions. I. 638 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,800 Mean how will they? There's no way to enforce it, 639 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:39,240 right? How? 640 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,400 Like I mean if the franchise themselves just shadow ban them, 641 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:42,920 what can? You do. 642 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,400 Our our guy will call them England Super Giants. 643 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,520 Two days it will take. They'll just rename the national 644 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,240 team to England Super Giants. Then what? 645 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,120 Yeah, and I think there's another, there's another 646 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:58,200 England, Australia context is that Australia also, they're 647 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:01,720 about to sell large stakes in their BBL, right? 648 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,400 That should send shivers down the spine of Pakistani 649 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,960 cricketers. You, you, you really limited in 650 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,560 the options of where you can play even franchise cricket. 651 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,880 Like that's got to be like a stifling thing. 652 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:18,840 And I want to bring somebody again into this is, you know, is 653 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,560 there any, is there any worry within, within Bangladesh that 654 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:27,160 you might have to face the same ostracization that Pakistan is 655 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:30,520 facing or Pakistani cricketers are facing around the world as a 656 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:35,160 result of this? Well, it's not that that big of 657 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,440 a deal because not many Bangladeshis actually play in 658 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,320 franchise cricket. I think recently Rishab Hussain, 659 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:42,960 the next spinner was playing in the Big Bash. 660 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,200 Obviously most of these was called up to the IPL and not 661 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,360 playing, but generally Bangladeshi cricketers, they 662 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,760 don't really play a lot of franchise cricketer. 663 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,880 You have Tuscan, you have most of these, you have you have 664 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,360 Shakib, who interestingly played for the, I think the Mumbai 665 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:03,640 Indians equivalent team in the ILG 20, the the team owned by 666 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:05,680 the Reliance. Group MI Emirates. 667 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,040 MI Emirates, right, Yeah. So it's it's quite limited and 668 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:14,240 also there's like hardly any chance of any foreign investment 669 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:16,120 in a BPLT because it's so dysfunctional. 670 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,240 No one is the is interested. And you have a lot of Pakistani 671 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:21,560 players playing in the BPL. And I'll see one of the tweets 672 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,680 recently that I think one of the highest paid, I think Shay 673 00:37:25,720 --> 00:37:29,400 Dafidi has, is the highest paid player ever in a in a franchise 674 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,280 league. And that $700,000 has come from 675 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,200 his BPL contract, whenever that was. 676 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,800 What about what about the board? So the board's finances, because 677 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,640 what I have read is that a lot of what the BCB makes and the 678 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:46,440 money that they have is from the investments rather than organic 679 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,880 growth. So what is their ability to 680 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:53,680 tolerate, tolerate this kind of this kind of an issue and 681 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,360 including like not having bilateral ties with India maybe 682 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,320 later in the year, I think that tour has been cancelled. 683 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:03,720 Like what is, do they think that they can tide over this or they 684 00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:07,240 really need that to be restored? Well, two parts to that answer I 685 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:09,400 think. Firstly, the fact that they, 686 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:11,840 they haven't played this World Cup, I mean, whichever the 687 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,040 circumstances, the ICC can come down hard on them. 688 00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:17,840 I mean, there we have heard about a fine for missing out 689 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,440 these three matches, which may not happen because Scotland has 690 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:22,760 stepped in and you know, they, they brought in Scotland. 691 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:26,160 Maybe that was to, you know, mitigate that fine part. 692 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:29,280 That's one. The second part is obviously 693 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,000 whatever happens to Bangladesh's ranking, I think the yearly 694 00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:36,600 payment or, or the five yearly cycle payment depends a little 695 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,320 bit on that, on the team's accumulated ranking in the T3 696 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:42,600 formats. So if Bangladesh goes down, that 697 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:47,920 might have an effect. But major concern here among a 698 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,240 lot of these, you know, cricket experts and and analysts and, 699 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:55,640 and you know, well known cricket officials here is obviously the 700 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:58,600 relationship with BCCI and the way where it's going to stand 701 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:03,680 after this whole mess with the, you know, the national elections 702 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,200 just days away. We're actually five days away 703 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,520 from those from that national election. 704 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:12,760 That holds the key. I think whoever comes to power, 705 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,280 they have to mend fences with India, not just for cricket. 706 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,280 I think generally whatever has happened, I mean, the export, 707 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,280 import and all the other commercial side is OK. 708 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:27,080 The flights are ongoing. Things are still normal in that, 709 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:29,640 in that sort of, you know, neighborly ways. 710 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:32,280 But the cricket thing has obviously touched a lot of 711 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:38,040 nerves, and that's where the BCB, you know, has completely 712 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:43,240 failed in managing that relationship, you know, taking 713 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:46,720 the diplomatic routes. Or I mean, again, I understand 714 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:50,960 that, you know, the ICC and the BCCI came down very hard on 715 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,680 Bangladesh. But again, from a Bangladeshi 716 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:57,400 point of view, there were a few things that the BCB could have 717 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,960 done differently or could have done properly to make sure that 718 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,760 you know. The government's target could be 719 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:05,600 fulfilled. At the same time the cricketers 720 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,800 will miss out on the World Cup. I think in that front, a lot has 721 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,720 changed in the PCB. It's a very new cricket board 722 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:14,160 with a lot of inexperienced people. 723 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:18,520 And you know, there are plenty of battles in other ends as 724 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,760 well, with players and with other officials, with other 725 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:26,240 teams here, domestic level. So I think to answer your 726 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:30,360 question, there is a bit of concerned about what the ICC 727 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:33,400 might end up doing. But I think that's another where 728 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:38,720 another place where the BCB might push the ICC into the 729 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,360 other direction that OK, don't find Bangladesh, don't put any 730 00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,440 financial restrictions on them. But what the BCB does with the 731 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:49,440 BCCI depends on this election and then what happens with that 732 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:51,680 tour. As you just mentioned, Indian 733 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,720 Express filed the news almost immediately after Bangladesh, 734 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:58,000 where the first time by the Bangladesh government said that 735 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,480 we might not go to India or we will not go to India. 736 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:02,720 That's when they file the news that that too is over. 737 00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:05,880 It was an easy thing to say at that time, but from what I 738 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,840 understand, it's still not off the table. 739 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:12,320 It's still not gone from the BCBS plate. 740 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:16,880 So they are they're still hoping that with the change government, 741 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:20,080 the BCCI, the first of all can be convinced. 742 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:23,000 And also BCCI might think that and that's another olive brands 743 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:27,520 that they want to, you know, go forward with because it's they 744 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:29,920 have already postponed the tour in 2025. 745 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:31,520 This is already a rescheduled tour. 746 00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:35,760 So let's see if if that happens then you can you can say that 747 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,080 things are slightly better, but you know, there are concerns 748 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,000 here. Tour is actually a good segue. 749 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,880 I'll zoom out a bit. One of our favorite books and I 750 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,840 can, I think speak for all of us on the board is Rahul 751 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:51,360 Bhattacharya, Pundits from Pakistan. 752 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,880 Now, the prose is one part of it, the lyrical prose and the 753 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,760 fluidity and the way he describes cricket, however he 754 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,840 does. But the biggest take away as 755 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:04,880 young readers reading that book the first time was how cricket 756 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,320 became background score. It became about Rahul, an Indian 757 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:11,680 reporter experiencing Pakistan. And he painted a picture of 758 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:16,640 Pakistan and you know, in it's complete the entire mosaic of 759 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,560 Pakistan, how the people are, how you know, he was treated and 760 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:23,520 everything else. I, I want to talk to Amir here. 761 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:28,120 I mean, do you reckon now there is a complete Fisher We've, 762 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:34,080 we've put in on how the average Joe in India recognizes the 763 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,880 average Joe in Pakistan? Do you think that conversation, 764 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:40,400 that recognition that, you know, they're our neighbors 765 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,200 essentially. So there is a lot of cultural, 766 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:44,800 the shared culture. But other than that, they are 767 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,160 not the one sitting in the government taking decisions. 768 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:48,760 They are just average people like we are. 769 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,000 Do you think that is getting impacted and that is also 770 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,560 showing up in the diaspora Indians and Pakistanis? 771 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:59,720 I think something really great about trying to use culture as 772 00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:02,600 propaganda is that it only goes so far. 773 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:10,680 People make take from culture what they would like and I think 774 00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:13,920 that we we definitely there's a lot more jingoism than there was 775 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:16,120 back then. It's obviously difficult to 776 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,360 compare those two eras. You're talking about a pre 777 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:21,960 social media era. And when I spoke to if I, you 778 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:23,960 know, if I spoke to somebody back then, there was obviously a 779 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:28,000 lot more ignorance about India and post social media for both 780 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,440 sides. In some ways, there's a lot more 781 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:33,680 understanding. I think in other ways I'm I'm 782 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,440 sure Indians are as well. I'm frequently surprised by some 783 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,320 things that that people are, you know, have have misconceptions 784 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:41,880 around maybe younger people as well. 785 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:46,160 But I think if we want to give some kind of evidence, you only 786 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,720 have to look at the music scene in Pakistan where particularly 787 00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:53,280 after the pandemic, Spotify comes to Pakistan, YouTube had 788 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:55,920 already been there. And the local music scene is 789 00:43:55,920 --> 00:44:01,360 really the kind of pop urban music scene is really blowing up 790 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,920 and especially the rap scene. And all of that is really thanks 791 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:07,320 to India. The audience is in India, and I 792 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,000 think a good an example of that was when an Indian rapper, 793 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:14,240 Niezy, kind of called out Pakistan's Talanjum. 794 00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:18,280 And Talanjum releases a song. It's viral on both sides of the 795 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:21,800 border. In fact, the hip hop scene 796 00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:23,720 refers to itself as desi hip hop. 797 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:28,200 It refuses to choose between India and Pakistan. 798 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,640 So that's just a small example, not representative of the whole 799 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,440 populations. But what I what it, what it 800 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:39,080 signifies to me is that there's, we have millennia of shared 801 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,400 relations. So you're not going to undo it 802 00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:45,840 with like banning a match or a song or whatever the hell it is. 803 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:50,720 So I think there's that. I also want to just go back a 804 00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:54,000 little to we were discussing the finances of the sport. 805 00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:58,120 And, you know, and I've been complaining about the fact that, 806 00:44:58,120 --> 00:44:59,800 you know, it's one thing for Indian journalists to say 807 00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:02,320 certain things, but like the way that all these foreign 808 00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:07,080 journalists are parroting regime lines are essentially acting as 809 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,520 regime journals. And one of the things they keep 810 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,760 saying is like, Oh my God, the small cricket boards are going 811 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,400 to get so hurt by this, by Pakistan boycott. 812 00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,240 And first of all, like the smaller cricket boards are hurt 813 00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:20,480 when you don't play matches with them, when you don't let them 814 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,400 qualify for tournaments, when you don't give them an equal 815 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:24,760 chance to play everybody equally. 816 00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:26,240 That's what hurts the smaller boards. 817 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,080 Get the fuck away with your concern about the smaller boards 818 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,960 finances when this is what you've put up with for the last 819 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:34,440 10-15 years. It's pathetic. 820 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:41,440 Secondly, there is this idea that so this, this broadcaster 821 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,600 deal that was signed, that was, I don't know, you know, Allamya 822 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:47,920 came and said the terms because it was obviously perfect. 823 00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:50,000 And it's Pakistan's boycott that destroyed it. 824 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:55,600 G Star, Disney Star before it became GO Star paid $3 billion 825 00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:58,280 for ICC rights for just within India. 826 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:02,600 Before that they paid 2 billion for rights for all over the 827 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:05,000 planet. They paid 1 1/2 times more that 828 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,960 just for India. They paid per match. 829 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:12,400 I think it's, it's $15 million what they paid for every ICC 830 00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,040 match. So like right now, W Indies and 831 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,160 Ireland, who whoever's playing Scotland, they paid Scotland, 832 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:23,040 they paid more money for that than relying of than the total 833 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,960 cost of an IPL game. An IPL game after the 2022 834 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:29,400 rights was including digital broadcast $12 million per game, 835 00:46:29,720 --> 00:46:31,760 ICC games of $15 million per game. 836 00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:35,080 Who signed this deal? It's an insane deal. 837 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:39,480 There's no one on the planet who can make it profitable if you 838 00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,040 really think that Indian audiences are going to watch 839 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:45,080 random countries more than they'll watch an IPL match. 840 00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:47,920 So it's a terrible, terrible, terrible deal. 841 00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,520 And what it it's not working it, it's not just the international, 842 00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:53,120 the ICC deal that's not working out. 843 00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:55,120 The IPL deal was overpriced as well. 844 00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:56,520 No one really wants to talk about that. 845 00:46:56,520 --> 00:47:00,160 It's very easy to talk about, oh, ICC games are tournament is 846 00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,880 boring and this and that and Pakistan, India and blah, blah, 847 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,680 blah. Why is the IPL deal also a news 848 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:07,600 around the neck of the broadcasters? 849 00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:12,040 And the final thing, and I think something that no one wants to 850 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:16,080 acknowledge, is that what we've realized is that the the party 851 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:20,080 is over for the Indian economy, the the exponential growth that 852 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:21,520 the investments were being made in. 853 00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:25,240 When you look at those 2022 rights and what kind of logic, 854 00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:28,280 if any, was being employed, the logic was that the Indian market 855 00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:29,880 is going to keep growing exponentially. 856 00:47:30,240 --> 00:47:33,200 Otts are going to break the stranglehold off cable. 857 00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:36,320 But what we've seen over the last four years is that the IPL 858 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:38,240 market is only increased by by like 10. 859 00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:42,760 Revenues from advertisements increase about 10 to 15%, but 860 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:47,040 the investment for those rights has increased exponentially. 861 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:51,400 So what I'm trying to get at is that there is a massive economic 862 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,600 contraction that is around the corner in world cricket that has 863 00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,000 nothing to do with Pakistan boycotting matches or not. 864 00:47:57,240 --> 00:48:01,120 It all has to do with the broadcaster first overpaying 865 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:07,040 wildly and then whoever you want to blame, the BCCI or the ICC, 866 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:09,840 really getting in bed with the broadcast and being like, what 867 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,520 do you want us to do? And and there's this expectation 868 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:16,720 that the next round of the rights are going to be severely 869 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:19,920 downgraded. The downgrade has happened 870 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:24,880 because if the Indian television market or OTT market had grown 871 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:27,680 at the rate these investments were being made at, we wouldn't 872 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:31,200 be worrying about this. What has happened is that almost 873 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,840 from, I don't know, the 90s onwards, where the growth of the 874 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:37,960 Indian economy has kept growing cricket as a whole, that gravy 875 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:41,320 train has come to a stop. And if Pakistan had, you could 876 00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:43,400 kick Pakistan out of international cricket. 877 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:45,400 That reality is not going to change. 878 00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:48,800 And I think that's something where it's it's the 879 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:52,640 responsibility of journalists who make a living following this 880 00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:56,600 sport, who are, who are really nearly saying 500 million 881 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,440 dollars, $30 million Pakistan hurting smaller birds. 882 00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:04,360 Bro, get off your laptops, do some research and think about 883 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:07,280 what's happening over here. Because it's really this the, 884 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:12,320 the, the economic jhatka that cricket is about to get is not 885 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,360 about this one match. And no one is really being able 886 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:19,600 to articulate that very well. And, and so I'm sorry, I know 887 00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:22,240 the question was about to be how Pakistani fans are feeling about 888 00:49:22,240 --> 00:49:25,480 this, but I think there is there is an important thing to be said 889 00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:27,920 over here as well. OK, you can take Pakistani fans 890 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:29,760 out of the equation. You can take Pakistan out of the 891 00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,760 equation. There is a looming financial 892 00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:35,280 inclusion coming for Indian cricket. 893 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,600 And it's not just the ICC deal, even the IPL deal is over 894 00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:40,760 priced. What's going to happen then? 895 00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:43,760 That is actually an existential problem for cricket, not 896 00:49:44,120 --> 00:49:46,000 Pakistan boycotting one group game. 897 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:50,560 I think, Emmer, just before you come in again and tell us about 898 00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:54,280 the real feelings of Pakistan fans, I must add here for the 899 00:49:54,280 --> 00:50:00,520 listeners is that the IPL deal was always like always going to 900 00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:05,000 fail purely for the fact that 50% of that deal goes to the 901 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,520 BCCI because it conducts the IPL. 902 00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:10,960 That's it. Just because it conducts the 903 00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:16,920 IPL. I mean middle man I mean there 904 00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:20,320 has to be some end end game to that as well, right and one day 905 00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:27,720 Mukesh Ambani is going to get up and like we need this as percent 906 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:36,520 up go and party hire broker No exactly so yeah, if the. 907 00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:40,080 Sorry, the ignorance of journalists. 908 00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:43,600 Also, when they throw out money numbers, I'll throw out one more 909 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:47,200 which I heard on a pretty mainstream podcast by now by a 910 00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:50,000 mainstream Indian commentator who's commentating at the World 911 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,320 Cup. And he thought that Pakistan had 912 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:56,120 got $500 million to host the Champions Trophy. 913 00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,840 So. What's the name of Batman's 914 00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:02,680 friend? For viewers who cannot see Emma 915 00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:07,200 has fallen off his chair, you. Know you're going to. 916 00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:11,120 I'm going to add to that. 500 To add to that 500 million thing, I 917 00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:13,960 have another question to ask. Basically, Emma, what do the 918 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:16,080 passionate fans in Pakistan truly feel? 919 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:22,440 I would I would highly encourage people to just Google that 920 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:25,840 phrase or or at least search it on Twitter and then enjoy the 921 00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:28,040 next 1520 minutes of their lives. 922 00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:33,840 Maybe this the associate board argument that they're not going 923 00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:35,560 to get the money. What? 924 00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:39,760 You guys on the board, you're winning votes by 14 to 2. 925 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:43,160 You can easily like change the financial agreement for them to 926 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:45,160 get more money. Like, how is that even an 927 00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:47,400 argument? Why is there so much hand 928 00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:49,920 drinking thinking? Oh, no, no, we can't do anything 929 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:52,400 about the associate boards and you know, Pakistan is doing. 930 00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:59,360 This and this is what Reap reap board, Yes. 931 00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:03,280 Absolutely, this helplessness, Shata, I want to bring you in 932 00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:05,960 next about. I'm very bad at this numbers and 933 00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:08,640 maths and this deals and all that, except I understood these 934 00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:11,920 deals with 1 clear explanation given to me by one of my friends 935 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:13,120 who works in the business, he said. 936 00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:16,080 See, why do people pitch for so much money in these big in these 937 00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:18,600 deals that they do? Because it is basically other 938 00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:20,200 people's money. It's not their money. 939 00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:22,520 So they pitch and if they went successfully then it's great. 940 00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:24,080 Anyway, now you can ask your question. 941 00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:28,840 Really, no, I wanted to talk about like the hypocrisy in 942 00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:33,640 basically the hypocrisy of all of the journalists and not being 943 00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:36,080 able to call this out. Like Amber had a really good. 944 00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:39,720 He talked about this really well there. 945 00:52:39,720 --> 00:52:43,600 But what are what are we doing to South Asian cricket? 946 00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:47,680 Like it just fills me up with so much sadness, right Because now 947 00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,840 Sri Lanka of course is not happy because the fixture in Sri Lanka 948 00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:53,680 got cancelled. The India, Pakistan fixture? 949 00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:56,920 Not yet, you know. Today's new has come is that 950 00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:59,920 some talks are underway. Anyway, deep talks are 951 00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:01,920 happening. So there's one, the Narrative 952 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:04,400 Control Center as I call it, has said that there is this 953 00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:09,080 discussion going on in which Pakistan has written to the ICC 954 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:12,320 in response to ICC asking them what is force measure in this 955 00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:13,560 situation or something like that. 956 00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:16,800 That is the story that has come. So you may proceed with your 957 00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:21,360 question so. My question is like what is the 958 00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:24,880 impact to South Asian cricket right now Because this is the 959 00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:30,240 first time where actually the fissures have bubbled up and an 960 00:53:30,240 --> 00:53:31,920 international tournament is at risk. 961 00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:36,720 It's not just bilaterals and things happening like Untold. 962 00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:40,040 The Untold statements going to IPL owners saying you should 963 00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:44,480 not, you should not bid on Pakistani players think this is 964 00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:47,280 not an open policy. It's actually an unknown policy. 965 00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:50,360 So now that all the figures have come to the fore, what are the 966 00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:52,880 impacts that we can see to South Asian cricket? 967 00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:56,120 So the first thing about the question about the journalist 968 00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:58,840 that you ask is that there are journalists I know that are 969 00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:02,480 filing stories and that it's the at the editorial level, at the 970 00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:04,400 leadership level that it gets pushed back. 971 00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:06,400 I know that they're young reporters that are there. 972 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:09,160 They've got the stuff and they say no one's want to publish it. 973 00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:12,600 You know, boss doesn't want to publish boss, boss, boss doesn't 974 00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,640 says no, boss is OK, boss, boss is OK. 975 00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:17,640 That A1 level boss up says no. So those pressures are 976 00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:21,280 definitely very much under, you know, happening with, with 977 00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:24,640 journalists in India. There are, there are, there are 978 00:54:24,640 --> 00:54:27,440 lots of journalists in, on social media in India who are 979 00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:32,520 pro the BCCI starts, which is their, you know, freedom to, to 980 00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:34,400 do it. But I, I definitely know that 981 00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:37,200 there are pressures from management and at senior 982 00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:41,480 editorial levels to not say the most obvious things that are 983 00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:44,480 there to be said. So, and, and your second 984 00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:47,160 question about the damage that's going to South Asia, when I was 985 00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:49,080 writing the column for the Hindustan Times yesterday, I 986 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,680 said we calculate the total population of all the countries 987 00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:55,760 that are playing. I included Bangladesh as well, 988 00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:57,640 that all the countries that would have played in this, in 989 00:54:57,640 --> 00:55:01,520 this World Cup and it came close to 2 billion, which is 1/4 of 990 00:55:01,520 --> 00:55:04,280 the world's population. And you're thinking, you idiots, 991 00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:06,560 what have you done? What are you doing? 992 00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:10,480 You know, look at this. And so you're including Nepal, 993 00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:13,640 you're including Afghanistan, you're, and, and then you've got 994 00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:15,520 India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. 995 00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:18,880 And you're saying there's six countries with almost 2 billion 996 00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:20,600 people total. OK, India is the largest, but 997 00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:22,320 Pakistan and Bangladesh are not small. 998 00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,680 I mean, Bangladesh's population is 100 million more than 999 00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:29,200 England, which is the next, the next large cricketing country 1000 00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:34,840 in, in, in the world. So it's almost like they don't 1001 00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:37,040 understand how I'm assuming this for them. 1002 00:55:37,720 --> 00:55:41,560 It's looking from the outside that there is no South Asian 1003 00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:45,960 view as such of what South Asia and, and, and the, and the power 1004 00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:48,200 that South Asian cricket has as a whole. 1005 00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:54,400 Because India as the Big Brother in the in, in, in the, in the 1006 00:55:55,120 --> 00:56:00,080 subcontinent has now gone inside it with the other big sort of 1007 00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:02,840 semi Big Brothers in cricket, which is England and Australia, 1008 00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:05,320 which is, which is it's completely, it's a financial 1009 00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:07,400 transaction and it's and it and it's followed all this. 1010 00:56:07,720 --> 00:56:11,080 So everyone around here and the whole thing is so even players 1011 00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:13,000 who I really respect. And you know, they say that, 1012 00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:15,800 look, we play more cricket in these other countries because of 1013 00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:17,680 the fact that we are the ones that generate money. 1014 00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:19,680 So, yeah, you're not doing in the world of field, you're 1015 00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:21,520 playing cricket. It's just, it just makes it 1016 00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:23,160 better for them. More countries playing cricket, 1017 00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:25,480 more people playing cricket of a particular standard. 1018 00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:29,160 If standards have fallen, how much of that or how much of that 1019 00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:32,720 is a fact due to, because of this changed financial model 1020 00:56:32,720 --> 00:56:35,080 that you put out, what had worked previously? 1021 00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:38,760 And how much more money does the BCCI want to make? 1022 00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:41,360 And what is it going to do with that money? 1023 00:56:41,720 --> 00:56:44,840 You know, is it like, it's the whole, the way I go back to my 1024 00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:47,960 favorite pet topic that for every rupee, for every ₹100, the 1025 00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:52,280 BCCI makes players get 150, I think international and ₹1.00 if 1026 00:56:52,280 --> 00:56:54,880 you're a domestic player. So total 3 between 3:00 and 4:00 1027 00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:57,240 rupees goes to players. So what happens to the rest of 1028 00:56:57,240 --> 00:57:00,120 the, the money? But that's the kind of economy 1029 00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:02,400 that it is. It's, it's, it's opaque. 1030 00:57:02,400 --> 00:57:04,600 It's not. And, and that's cricket as I 1031 00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:08,480 mean, international cricket as well as there is no, there's no 1032 00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:10,560 leadership in the game. Many more. 1033 00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:13,840 That's why the whole thing they should be looking at, there's an 1034 00:57:13,840 --> 00:57:15,840 Olympics coming. They should be looking at South 1035 00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:18,720 Asians and look at the size. This is 1/4 of the the world's 1036 00:57:18,720 --> 00:57:20,320 population that's into the sport. 1037 00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:22,960 You know, let's make sure that it can make it. 1038 00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:25,520 It looks like it's a, it's a sport that should can spread 1039 00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:26,600 easily. It's a fun sport. 1040 00:57:26,600 --> 00:57:27,800 You can play it in Papua New Guinea. 1041 00:57:27,800 --> 00:57:29,560 You can play it in Brazil. Women play it very well in 1042 00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:31,480 Brazil. It's played in Thailand as well. 1043 00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:33,800 It's played in parts of Africa that had not been played 1044 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:36,840 previously. But you don't have a global view 1045 00:57:36,840 --> 00:57:38,320 of the game. Never mind you don't have a 1046 00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:39,600 regional view of the game as well. 1047 00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:41,840 I mean, if you drop out South Asia, what's happening at the 1048 00:57:41,840 --> 00:57:44,480 Asian Cricket Conference or Council or whatever that thing 1049 00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:47,120 is called when they had that absolute mess that was the Asia 1050 00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:51,480 Cup also pet topic. Not a single press conference on 1051 00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:54,240 the ICC about this. This is the biggest crisis in 1052 00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:59,200 their game Since you know, I've done think of men since England 1053 00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:01,720 and Zimbabwe in in 2003 World Cup. 1054 00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:04,560 I can't think of what the other OK, match fixing. 1055 00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:07,000 Sorry, forgot, but you know, there's no press call. 1056 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:09,560 No, it's not a press conference. You know, what is this? 1057 00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:11,720 You know, do you think it you your turn? 1058 00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:16,720 I mean what I mean I am without I am out of words when I look at 1059 00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:19,440 the and I think that, you know, all the people that are running 1060 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:22,320 the game, like everyone's being they're just there's a phrase 1061 00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:24,360 that is used is come from Winston Churchill, which is not 1062 00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:26,800 the best example, but he called the men of straw. 1063 00:58:26,840 --> 00:58:28,560 These men of straw are running cricket. 1064 00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:31,800 It literally like the men of straw running the game and they 1065 00:58:31,800 --> 00:58:34,840 have no, they they they seem to have no global view of the game. 1066 00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:38,440 You know, as to what the and more that that global view of 1067 00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:42,280 the game that it goes beyond bottom line, you know, and, and, 1068 00:58:42,280 --> 00:58:44,040 and profits. And like Emma was talking about 1069 00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:47,800 the financial sort of danger that's lurking. 1070 00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:50,720 There's, I don't know if there's a there's a way to look to 1071 00:58:50,720 --> 00:58:52,960 solution. How do we make this work? 1072 00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:55,560 How you know what, what do we have planned ahead? 1073 00:58:56,200 --> 00:58:59,240 I mean, if you're, you're putting out World Cup tickets 1074 00:58:59,240 --> 00:59:01,600 like 10 days before the World Cup is starting and that's the 1075 00:59:01,600 --> 00:59:04,000 kind of way you run it today consistently for the last two 1076 00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:05,920 World Cups that you organized, oh, today. 1077 00:59:06,080 --> 00:59:08,640 Well done. Today's tickets were out today. 1078 00:59:08,640 --> 00:59:11,480 What are? You. 5 PM. 5:00 PM. 1079 00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:13,040 There were tickets available at 5:00 PM. 1080 00:59:13,640 --> 00:59:20,520 But but just to add, just to add to Sharda's points and quote 1081 00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:26,080 Sharda from her caravan piece in 2023 is the fact that where does 1082 00:59:26,080 --> 00:59:30,920 BCCI money go? So I must inform 70% of BCCI 1083 00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:33,360 revenues go to state associations and vanish. 1084 00:59:34,080 --> 00:59:37,120 So it's everybody's guess where it goes and who's leading the 1085 00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:40,200 board and which party and and all of that. 1086 00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:44,240 And to Sharda's point about the ICCI must inform Sharda and I, 1087 00:59:44,240 --> 00:59:47,640 and I did that to our guests in the previous episode as well, is 1088 00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:50,520 that ICC tournaments are built on sporting integrity, 1089 00:59:50,520 --> 00:59:53,240 competitiveness, consistency and fairness. 1090 00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:55,160 Just keep Arimi. Can I have to? 1091 00:59:55,200 --> 01:00:00,400 Write your press release here. Come on, I'm going to get into 1092 01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,480 so much trouble for this. Shit. 1093 01:00:03,480 --> 01:00:06,400 OK, somebody, I have a question for you. 1094 01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:10,600 How do you, how do people in Bangladesh are feeling about 1095 01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:14,560 like of all teams, of all boards, Pakistan sort of 1096 01:00:15,200 --> 01:00:17,600 standing with them and, you know, fighting for them? 1097 01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:22,920 You diplomatic? Yeah, I mean, it takes a genius 1098 01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:25,040 actually to bring Pakistan and Bangladesh together. 1099 01:00:25,040 --> 01:00:30,160 So credit where it's due. And do you have any insights on 1100 01:00:30,360 --> 01:00:36,640 like what was the negotiations between BCB and ICC like was 1101 01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:39,520 bringing back his maybe on the table at some point? 1102 01:00:40,800 --> 01:00:44,000 To answer the first part of your question, not at all surprise. 1103 01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:50,880 I was born in 1984 and my lifetime I've only seen. 1104 01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:57,240 Unfortunately, Bangladesh is mostly either you're with either 1105 01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:00,800 you are in India, either you're anti India or anti Pakistan. 1106 01:01:00,800 --> 01:01:02,720 Now that the army government is gone. 1107 01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:05,640 I'm talking from a very generalized, a very political 1108 01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:09,720 standpoint or a very popular standpoint that starting from 1109 01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:14,240 cricket, you know, I, I hardly knew a lot of friends who 1110 01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:18,120 supported Australia, W Indies, W Indies was fun in the 80s or 1111 01:01:18,120 --> 01:01:21,080 90s, but it was either in India or Pakistan. 1112 01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:24,720 That's number one. Number two, now that the army 1113 01:01:24,720 --> 01:01:26,600 government is gone. And, and you should also keep in 1114 01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:30,520 mind that during the army government, they banned, they 1115 01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:33,520 stopped the flight to Pakistan, exports were closed. 1116 01:01:34,360 --> 01:01:37,680 It was very difficult to go to Pakistan from anyone from 1117 01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:40,640 Bangladesh or anyone travelling from Pakistan to Bangladesh was 1118 01:01:40,640 --> 01:01:43,040 also a very complicated situation. 1119 01:01:43,040 --> 01:01:47,960 So diplomatic relationships were at its lowest, I think in the in 1120 01:01:47,960 --> 01:01:52,680 the aftermath of the 1971 war in these 1314 years. 1121 01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:59,360 So the moment that you know, our Malik left the those parties, 1122 01:01:59,360 --> 01:02:04,280 political parties or those would be you know anti India rhetoric 1123 01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:10,200 in them, they actually welcomed the Pakistani wave to come back. 1124 01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:16,440 I think I am the first person from Bangladesh or the first non 1125 01:02:16,440 --> 01:02:18,960 cricketer from Bangladesh to travel to Pakistan. 1126 01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:22,520 I think 10 days after the government changed. 1127 01:02:22,520 --> 01:02:26,840 So when I reached Pakistan, I could sense that, you know, 1128 01:02:26,840 --> 01:02:29,680 there was a lot of joy in meeting me, not because I was 1129 01:02:29,680 --> 01:02:31,960 Mahmoud Assam, but mainly because I come from Bangladesh 1130 01:02:31,960 --> 01:02:34,520 where, you know, the government had changed, Sheikh Hasina had 1131 01:02:34,520 --> 01:02:38,600 gone. And of course, even I feel that 1132 01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:43,080 with that government gone, a lot of a lot of elements of the 1133 01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:45,200 dictatorship were also gone with it. 1134 01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:48,280 Whether they have come back or not, we'll discuss it in another 1135 01:02:48,280 --> 01:02:53,520 forum, but for now we'll talk about whether Bangladesh is are 1136 01:02:53,520 --> 01:02:55,040 surprised. They're not surprised because 1137 01:02:55,400 --> 01:02:59,240 you know, finally we had, you know, some Pakistani bands like 1138 01:02:59,240 --> 01:03:02,640 Rahat Fateh Ali Khan coming in for a for a mega concert. 1139 01:03:02,640 --> 01:03:05,240 I attended that concert in December 2024. 1140 01:03:05,520 --> 01:03:08,960 It was a celebration of this government return, You know, is 1141 01:03:08,960 --> 01:03:13,160 this interim government taking, taking shape at that time? 1142 01:03:13,480 --> 01:03:18,120 And generally, you could see a lot more involvement of the 1143 01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:21,400 Pakistan High Commission here in Dhaka, which was, you know, very 1144 01:03:21,400 --> 01:03:24,000 different from how we grew up over the years. 1145 01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:27,840 It was always a very polite diplomatic relationship until 1146 01:03:27,840 --> 01:03:32,600 the Almali government started to set in new rules for Pakistani 1147 01:03:32,600 --> 01:03:35,080 nationals or Bangladeshi nationals traveling to Pakistan 1148 01:03:35,080 --> 01:03:37,760 or export and import and all these things. 1149 01:03:37,880 --> 01:03:40,520 Even cricketing wise, I mean, I don't know whether you guys 1150 01:03:40,520 --> 01:03:44,840 remember, but in 2013, I think after BCB didn't travel to 1151 01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:48,640 Pakistan for a 2012 score, Pakistan stopped players from 1152 01:03:48,640 --> 01:03:52,440 coming to the BPL. In 2013, that also happened. 1153 01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:56,920 Now after that, obviously Pakistan, Pakistani players 1154 01:03:56,920 --> 01:03:58,440 played in the BPL quite regularly. 1155 01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:01,120 They're probably the biggest majority to play in the BPL. 1156 01:04:02,160 --> 01:04:05,600 No surprises here. It was welcomed and it was 1157 01:04:05,600 --> 01:04:08,000 always going to be on the cards. I don't know whether you guys 1158 01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:11,400 have counted, but Bangladesh has played Pakistan a number of 1159 01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:15,520 times in the last 12 months, number of P20 series. 1160 01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:21,680 So the diplomatic relationships have improved under this interim 1161 01:04:21,680 --> 01:04:25,240 government and they're welcomed Pakistan at every opportunity 1162 01:04:25,240 --> 01:04:28,600 for helping out Bangladesh. Especially when I think when 1163 01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:31,120 recently Shabba Sharif, the Pakistan Prime Minister, made 1164 01:04:31,120 --> 01:04:33,760 that statement that they've done it for Bangladesh, that that 1165 01:04:33,880 --> 01:04:35,440 boycotted this match for Bangladesh. 1166 01:04:35,440 --> 01:04:38,400 And there was instant reaction from the government as well. 1167 01:04:38,880 --> 01:04:41,400 Someone wrote on Facebook and one of the one of the men, you 1168 01:04:41,400 --> 01:04:44,080 know, the advisors wrote on Facebook that we welcome his 1169 01:04:44,440 --> 01:04:47,200 statement. So that that doesn't surprise 1170 01:04:47,200 --> 01:04:48,600 anyone here. Sorry. 1171 01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:51,480 Second part of your question was the ICC and BCCI. 1172 01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:54,120 Having an excuse? About, yeah. 1173 01:04:54,280 --> 01:04:56,720 Yeah, I mean, what were the negotiations like? 1174 01:04:56,960 --> 01:05:00,080 From what I, from what I can gather from all my sources in 1175 01:05:00,080 --> 01:05:04,640 those two or three weeks now, that was not even the ICC. 1176 01:05:05,400 --> 01:05:08,480 I mean, it's very difficult to, you know, differentiate between 1177 01:05:08,480 --> 01:05:11,360 the ICC and what the ICC is saying and whether you know, 1178 01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:15,240 whether that's whether you know, it's, I can even call it the IC 1179 01:05:15,240 --> 01:05:18,280 CS dictator, whatever. But there was no way that they 1180 01:05:18,280 --> 01:05:22,120 were going to even mention the word security because in the 1181 01:05:22,120 --> 01:05:26,080 BCCI statement when they withdrew Mustafi, they didn't 1182 01:05:26,080 --> 01:05:29,000 use the word security and they have not used it afterwards. 1183 01:05:29,280 --> 01:05:33,800 And whenever the the BCB had mentioned Mustafi, it was dealt 1184 01:05:33,800 --> 01:05:36,080 with the statement like it was it's a domestic tournament, the 1185 01:05:36,080 --> 01:05:38,480 securities are different there, stuff like that. 1186 01:05:38,480 --> 01:05:41,760 So no, I don't think there was ever any chance of that there. 1187 01:05:41,800 --> 01:05:46,240 Then going back in fact on this on January the 6th or 7th when 1188 01:05:46,240 --> 01:05:50,560 we in is when we can for reported of the first discussion 1189 01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:54,320 between the BCCI, sorry the ICC and BCB. 1190 01:05:55,440 --> 01:05:58,840 Even in that meeting it was floated and I mean we have had a 1191 01:05:58,840 --> 01:06:02,040 conflicted report on that because the BCB denied to me 1192 01:06:02,040 --> 01:06:04,520 that it never happened. But the, the statement was if 1193 01:06:04,520 --> 01:06:06,120 you don't go to India, the points are going to be taken 1194 01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:09,280 from you. We reported that and we got, you 1195 01:06:09,280 --> 01:06:11,120 know, heckled at every opportunity. 1196 01:06:11,120 --> 01:06:13,680 The BCB president went after quick info, everyone went after 1197 01:06:13,680 --> 01:06:15,960 quick info. But ultimately that's what we 1198 01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:20,160 saw in the end that, you know, points were not taken off. 1199 01:06:20,160 --> 01:06:24,560 But you know, that was the, that was the unilateral or you know, 1200 01:06:24,560 --> 01:06:28,120 one in a single minded effort to bring Bangladesh to India. 1201 01:06:28,560 --> 01:06:33,080 Sri Lanka, apparently we heard after that, I think January 24th 1202 01:06:33,080 --> 01:06:35,960 meeting or 23rd, I don't remember the date, the board 1203 01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:38,840 meeting that the ICC had. Sri Lanka actually said we do 1204 01:06:38,840 --> 01:06:41,600 not want any other team in the OR any new team in our group 1205 01:06:41,600 --> 01:06:44,600 because there was a plan to shift around Ireland and 1206 01:06:44,600 --> 01:06:46,120 Bangladesh. I think it's one point. 1207 01:06:46,120 --> 01:06:51,000 So, So Bangladesh had absolutely no friends, even Bangladesh's 1208 01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:54,120 best friends, Zimbabwe, I didn't vote for Bangladesh. 1209 01:06:54,120 --> 01:06:56,640 So you know the BCB failed hard done by. 1210 01:06:56,640 --> 01:06:59,000 I mean no one, no one stood by except Pakistan. 1211 01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:01,720 So you can imagine that Pakistan's decision not to play 1212 01:07:01,720 --> 01:07:04,480 against India till today is being welcomed in Bangladesh. 1213 01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:09,440 If I could add something to that regarding the negotiations, 1214 01:07:09,440 --> 01:07:13,960 because as Sam pointed out, like even if you, you know, he's done 1215 01:07:13,960 --> 01:07:15,520 some excellent reporting on the story. 1216 01:07:15,520 --> 01:07:18,960 But if you just go with like the official press release, the 1217 01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:23,800 language that the ICC uses when it rejects Bangladesh's requests 1218 01:07:23,840 --> 01:07:27,360 versus the language it uses when Pakistan's government announces 1219 01:07:27,680 --> 01:07:30,640 it's boycott, There's a huge difference between the two, 1220 01:07:30,640 --> 01:07:33,400 right? You straight away see how 1221 01:07:33,400 --> 01:07:36,000 they're approaching even as the same issue, but they approach it 1222 01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:39,800 completely differently. What I'm saying next is 1223 01:07:39,800 --> 01:07:42,880 unverified. This is not something that's 1224 01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:44,880 been reported. This is stuff that I've heard. 1225 01:07:45,000 --> 01:07:49,880 It could very well be baseless, but because our chairman is also 1226 01:07:49,880 --> 01:07:54,360 the interior minister, he was in Dubai, the ICC allegedly centre 1227 01:07:54,360 --> 01:07:58,120 director, his name is Imran Khwaja and he was there with a 1228 01:07:58,120 --> 01:08:02,000 list of supposed threats. We can guess what those threats 1229 01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:04,920 were because Indian media had started publishing those stories 1230 01:08:04,920 --> 01:08:07,440 almost immediately afterwards. So you can, you know, put two 1231 01:08:07,440 --> 01:08:12,280 and two together. Reportedly, what the interior 1232 01:08:12,280 --> 01:08:15,120 minister said to Ron Kwaja, he's like, after what we've done in 1233 01:08:15,120 --> 01:08:17,840 May, do you think we really care about what you're going to do 1234 01:08:17,840 --> 01:08:21,560 now and whether that's true or not? 1235 01:08:21,640 --> 01:08:26,080 I think what it it could be true because what's what's what's 1236 01:08:26,080 --> 01:08:29,200 happening over here is that it's not like the PCB just woke up 1237 01:08:29,200 --> 01:08:31,240 and realized India's being unfair to us. 1238 01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:35,240 But every previous PCB chairman just did not have the sort of 1239 01:08:35,240 --> 01:08:39,840 leverage where he could kind of launch of a diplomatic battle 1240 01:08:39,840 --> 01:08:42,800 with India, right? Like if you Zakhar Shraf who was 1241 01:08:42,800 --> 01:08:45,840 like this, you should never surprising that he was in the 1242 01:08:45,840 --> 01:08:48,319 PCB chairman. He was famous for being a sugar 1243 01:08:48,319 --> 01:08:51,240 mill owner. But you know, you saw in the 1244 01:08:51,240 --> 01:08:56,120 2023 Asia Cup how easily the BCCI was just able to get away 1245 01:08:56,120 --> 01:09:03,279 with, you know, extra rest Deja Yahameh or Yahani killing even 1246 01:09:03,279 --> 01:09:06,600 that likes of Najam Sethi or Ramiz Raja, who've been in the 1247 01:09:06,640 --> 01:09:09,240 top position. Like they've not had, you know, 1248 01:09:09,319 --> 01:09:12,279 any interest in taking on the BCCI this way. 1249 01:09:12,760 --> 01:09:15,080 But Mohsin Naqvi, A, is obviously the interior minister 1250 01:09:15,080 --> 01:09:19,600 in the aftermath of a war. And B doesn't really know or 1251 01:09:19,600 --> 01:09:22,080 care about the intricacies of cricket, right? 1252 01:09:22,080 --> 01:09:25,920 So like, if if he makes this decision, his calculus really 1253 01:09:25,920 --> 01:09:29,359 involves the state rather than the future of the Pakistan 1254 01:09:29,359 --> 01:09:34,479 cricket team. And I think that leverage, you 1255 01:09:34,479 --> 01:09:39,359 know, has been very difficult for the cricketing world to kind 1256 01:09:39,359 --> 01:09:44,279 of move around because prior to that BCCI slash ICC, as Assam 1257 01:09:44,439 --> 01:09:47,160 said, it's hard to tell who is speaking for whom. 1258 01:09:47,160 --> 01:09:49,960 But they just had to kind of be like, hey, we're going to cut 1259 01:09:49,960 --> 01:09:51,520 you out from this tour. We're going to cut you out from 1260 01:09:51,520 --> 01:09:53,439 this tournament. And every other board was like, 1261 01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:55,720 you know, sorry, sorry, we're not going to say anything. 1262 01:09:56,480 --> 01:09:59,880 Pakistan obviously has had 20 years of being, you know, 1263 01:09:59,920 --> 01:10:04,040 ostracized one way or another. But even with that, I think it's 1264 01:10:04,120 --> 01:10:09,240 safe to say that any other PCB chairman would not have been so 1265 01:10:09,240 --> 01:10:12,520 bold or no, I don't want to make it bold and praise it. 1266 01:10:12,760 --> 01:10:15,880 It's quite brash. It's quite, you know, like it's 1267 01:10:15,880 --> 01:10:17,920 not really well thought too, like a lot of people are like, 1268 01:10:17,920 --> 01:10:21,240 what is the big game that Yaaraghaku planning Kisat Kalai 1269 01:10:21,240 --> 01:10:23,960 Mosun Naqvi? But it's like you're planning 1270 01:10:23,960 --> 01:10:26,880 Kirkat Kaling. What what route is there other 1271 01:10:26,880 --> 01:10:31,520 than, you know, either Pakistan's economy growing by 1272 01:10:31,520 --> 01:10:35,600 100 X over the next few months or the rest of the global 1273 01:10:35,600 --> 01:10:39,160 economy falling completely? Like there's no other plan that 1274 01:10:39,160 --> 01:10:43,320 Mosun Naqvi can pursue other than this leverage that they've 1275 01:10:43,320 --> 01:10:45,200 managed. You know, like I think the, the 1276 01:10:45,200 --> 01:10:48,080 analogy is basically the emperors new clothes, right? 1277 01:10:48,080 --> 01:10:53,720 Like most of all people are like ICC and no one else is like, you 1278 01:10:53,760 --> 01:10:55,280 know, they're like, no, what are you saying? 1279 01:10:55,520 --> 01:10:58,880 How can they say that? Like, you know, Gideon Haig is 1280 01:10:58,920 --> 01:11:01,480 like, oh, just critics views are irrelevant. 1281 01:11:01,480 --> 01:11:04,640 What a fine gossamer silk. The great sport is paying. 1282 01:11:04,640 --> 01:11:11,160 It's of course not naked, but that's what most of that is 1283 01:11:11,360 --> 01:11:16,080 basically done. And I think he's the only guy 1284 01:11:16,080 --> 01:11:20,360 who could have gotten away with that because, like, it's not 1285 01:11:20,360 --> 01:11:24,320 most of his problem. Again, I just wanted to sorry, I 1286 01:11:24,320 --> 01:11:29,120 just wanted to add something very similar that has, you know, 1287 01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:33,200 the context is almost similar to the interim government that 1288 01:11:33,200 --> 01:11:36,360 Bangladesh is here, right? It's basically and Shabbat, I 1289 01:11:36,360 --> 01:11:40,360 mean, I should, you know, we should also hear this out. 1290 01:11:40,360 --> 01:11:44,240 It's basically this government is here for another four or five 1291 01:11:44,240 --> 01:11:47,560 days, maximum a week. So when they took that decision, 1292 01:11:49,080 --> 01:11:51,280 none of their business. I mean, if they left Bangladesh 1293 01:11:51,280 --> 01:11:54,360 cricket with 0. And I should also add another 1294 01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:56,760 point. It's it's not, it's not a 1295 01:11:56,800 --> 01:12:00,720 speculation. It's, it's what has happened. 1296 01:12:00,880 --> 01:12:03,560 Cricket was our army leagues crowning lorry. 1297 01:12:04,440 --> 01:12:07,280 You know, I know it was, it's a shit thing to say. 1298 01:12:07,280 --> 01:12:10,960 But there's not much happening in the Bangladesh apart from 1299 01:12:10,960 --> 01:12:14,160 cricket that the army government put on top of their head. 1300 01:12:14,160 --> 01:12:18,000 And they control the cricket board through Mr. Nazmul Hassan 1301 01:12:18,680 --> 01:12:22,200 famously who who ran the cricket board with his iron fist. 1302 01:12:22,680 --> 01:12:29,120 And when that when that government left, the BCB became 1303 01:12:29,240 --> 01:12:33,320 orphans almost instantly. Like I don't know whether you 1304 01:12:33,320 --> 01:12:35,440 guys followed the news at that time, 14 board directors 1305 01:12:35,440 --> 01:12:39,040 literally escaped the country. Escaped the country. 1306 01:12:39,800 --> 01:12:43,400 Many of them were M PS or brothers of M PS and what not. 1307 01:12:43,400 --> 01:12:45,600 I mean, they were related to M PS or related to the Prime 1308 01:12:45,600 --> 01:12:49,560 Minister at that time. So BCB had 10 board directors 1309 01:12:49,560 --> 01:12:53,840 running the show. The interim government saw this 1310 01:12:54,040 --> 01:12:57,720 cricket board as a army league machinery, as an army league 1311 01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,400 tool or a propaganda tool that they wanted to destroy. 1312 01:13:00,400 --> 01:13:05,240 And back in 2025, late 2025, there was a some football match 1313 01:13:05,240 --> 01:13:11,080 where the same sports advisor, he said that cricket's 1314 01:13:11,080 --> 01:13:14,120 importance to Bangladesh is because of another country's 1315 01:13:14,120 --> 01:13:16,000 Hageman. He meant India. 1316 01:13:16,680 --> 01:13:18,880 We have to cut that out. He said it. 1317 01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:23,080 Then 2-3 other things happened. Some optics went wrong for the 1318 01:13:23,080 --> 01:13:26,440 Indian government and then the most of these thing happened. 1319 01:13:26,440 --> 01:13:31,520 So it didn't didn't as as Amir Bais kept saying those things, 1320 01:13:32,000 --> 01:13:34,920 you know, it played out in my mind that yeah, it's the same, 1321 01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:39,280 same thing happening here. It doesn't matter to anyone 1322 01:13:39,520 --> 01:13:43,160 whether cricket suffers, cricketers suffers, forget about 1323 01:13:43,160 --> 01:13:45,200 the game. This is not going to contribute 1324 01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:48,160 greatly to the game itself. But we have thousands of 1325 01:13:48,160 --> 01:13:51,120 professional cricketers who are suffering because there's no 1326 01:13:51,120 --> 01:13:53,840 cricket league, because there's a huge political problem here in 1327 01:13:53,880 --> 01:13:56,080 in the cricket board. On top of that, we're not 1328 01:13:56,080 --> 01:13:58,720 playing the World Cup. And the worst part is the person 1329 01:13:58,720 --> 01:14:03,280 who's in charge of this is Aminul Islam, the guy who scored 1330 01:14:03,280 --> 01:14:06,480 a century in Bangladesh's inaugural Test match, Celebrated 1331 01:14:06,480 --> 01:14:11,880 former cricketer who worked for the ICC, who boasts himself that 1332 01:14:11,880 --> 01:14:15,680 he knows how to do presentations and he knows how to do Canva and 1333 01:14:15,680 --> 01:14:18,440 PPT. He's the one who's presided over 1334 01:14:18,440 --> 01:14:21,200 ABCB, which doesn't have a running league. 1335 01:14:21,200 --> 01:14:22,840 And Sharda knows about the league. 1336 01:14:22,880 --> 01:14:25,760 I've spoken to her for hours about the Dhaka league and how 1337 01:14:25,760 --> 01:14:28,800 special it is and how you know how I played in it and stuff 1338 01:14:28,800 --> 01:14:30,440 like that. It's a, it's like the English 1339 01:14:30,440 --> 01:14:32,400 Premier League in Bangladesh. It's like 4 pier. 1340 01:14:32,400 --> 01:14:35,040 It's everything. Just stop that. 1341 01:14:35,440 --> 01:14:38,160 He couldn't solve that. He couldn't solve this one. 1342 01:14:39,040 --> 01:14:41,080 And there are many points that I've had. 1343 01:14:42,040 --> 01:14:44,680 And let us explain to you, the Indian government just took a 1344 01:14:44,680 --> 01:14:46,880 decision. It was the cricket board who 1345 01:14:46,880 --> 01:14:50,720 should have stepped in with some diplomacy or some sort of 1346 01:14:50,720 --> 01:14:54,280 language that they could have limited this damage for 1347 01:14:54,280 --> 01:14:56,800 Bangladesh because of course don't play the World Cup no 1348 01:14:56,800 --> 01:14:59,320 problem, but have some steps going. 1349 01:14:59,320 --> 01:15:02,560 It was just straight away like it was in a in a game of card. 1350 01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:05,720 Bangladesh just gave back the cards and said we are not 1351 01:15:05,720 --> 01:15:07,600 playing the game. You know, they could have had 1352 01:15:07,600 --> 01:15:09,560 they had a few trump cards up their sleeve. 1353 01:15:09,560 --> 01:15:15,160 I mean, of course, I'm in the slum, had Mohsin Nabhi's support 1354 01:15:15,160 --> 01:15:18,080 since the ACC meeting in Bangladesh when India didn't 1355 01:15:18,080 --> 01:15:20,040 appear. But then Rajesh Shukla, I think 1356 01:15:20,040 --> 01:15:23,400 joined on on a video call. He was forced to join because 1357 01:15:23,400 --> 01:15:25,320 all the other boards, you know, were joining up. 1358 01:15:25,880 --> 01:15:27,920 So, I mean, he had Mohsin Nabhi's support. 1359 01:15:27,920 --> 01:15:31,920 And I think they understood Mohsin Nabhi's theatre. 1360 01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:34,200 And my dad, I mean, he just is quite blustery. 1361 01:15:34,200 --> 01:15:36,240 I mean, he knows how to say those things. 1362 01:15:36,560 --> 01:15:40,080 And I mean by honestly, if if you compare the two reactions, 1363 01:15:40,080 --> 01:15:44,400 what Bangladesh, how well this reacted to Mustafi's and how 1364 01:15:44,400 --> 01:15:48,360 Pakistan reacted to Bangladesh's ouster, I think Pakistan's was 1365 01:15:48,400 --> 01:15:51,840 managed slightly better. And I think they still had some 1366 01:15:51,840 --> 01:15:54,720 things off their sleeves. They knew that, you know, India 1367 01:15:54,720 --> 01:16:01,120 needed this game or ICC needed this game more than maybe what 1368 01:16:01,120 --> 01:16:05,120 Bangladesh, how Bangladesh reacted to, to the to whatever 1369 01:16:05,120 --> 01:16:07,360 happened. So it was like the perfect 1370 01:16:07,360 --> 01:16:08,520 storm. I'm just describing the 1371 01:16:08,520 --> 01:16:10,360 Bangladesh part of it. Yeah. 1372 01:16:11,040 --> 01:16:13,840 Do you want to come in shutter? No, that's too brilliant. 1373 01:16:13,840 --> 01:16:16,960 I mean, this has explained things so beautifully. 1374 01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:18,960 We should all just just keep keep talking about the, you 1375 01:16:18,960 --> 01:16:20,880 know, it doesn't explain itself fantastically. 1376 01:16:21,440 --> 01:16:26,000 No, that's true. And and you know, it's in a way 1377 01:16:26,000 --> 01:16:30,000 because Mohsin Naqvi is a career politician and it it becomes 1378 01:16:30,000 --> 01:16:32,200 like Anuki. I've just done it and I've gone 1379 01:16:32,200 --> 01:16:35,640 all this in Punjabi. He just said it and, and, and, 1380 01:16:35,640 --> 01:16:38,880 and it's out there and you know the story that you're saying 1381 01:16:38,880 --> 01:16:40,560 that the threats were sent to him. 1382 01:16:40,560 --> 01:16:43,240 I'm just like, what? Whose idea was it? 1383 01:16:43,480 --> 01:16:49,040 Who said allegedly or reportedly or suspectedly, whose idea would 1384 01:16:49,040 --> 01:16:53,400 have been to send the, the Imran Khrajana? 1385 01:16:53,440 --> 01:16:57,800 Did you say what to say to give threats to the home minister of 1386 01:16:57,800 --> 01:17:00,040 Pakistan? I mean, to a, to a career 1387 01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:03,120 politician, just make a phone call and say, boss, don't go 1388 01:17:03,120 --> 01:17:04,480 there. You know, basically whatever you 1389 01:17:04,480 --> 01:17:08,000 do, let someone else do it. Sharda, there's just one thing. 1390 01:17:08,000 --> 01:17:09,400 He's not even a career politician. 1391 01:17:09,400 --> 01:17:14,560 He's a career journalist who who who basically was like a head of 1392 01:17:14,560 --> 01:17:18,400 ATV channel or something. And then he has an interesting 1393 01:17:18,400 --> 01:17:21,200 journalism story, but not a lot of journalism achievements. 1394 01:17:21,200 --> 01:17:24,200 But yeah, that's how he jumped on to it. 1395 01:17:24,680 --> 01:17:27,440 I think he became PCB chairman first and then the interior 1396 01:17:27,440 --> 01:17:30,200 minister. I apologize for not knowing the 1397 01:17:30,200 --> 01:17:33,640 details, but yeah, he's, he's one of us, basically. 1398 01:17:35,680 --> 01:17:37,320 Like Rajeev, Shukla is also a journalist. 1399 01:17:38,080 --> 01:17:39,520 Began as a journalist. Don't forget it. 1400 01:17:40,240 --> 01:17:42,440 I think Rajeev Shukla. Began with Rajeev Shukla. 1401 01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:44,720 There's that, there's that great line. 1402 01:17:45,920 --> 01:17:48,800 Rajeev Shukla. Rajeev Shukla. 1403 01:17:48,800 --> 01:17:49,640 Yes, salad. Maybe. 1404 01:17:49,640 --> 01:17:51,960 Yes, salad. Maybe that's the. 1405 01:17:51,960 --> 01:17:54,800 Greatest line ever. Kirti Aza as the intro to the 1406 01:17:54,840 --> 01:17:55,880 podcast. Yes. 1407 01:17:56,400 --> 01:17:59,400 Guess. Guess where was this written, 1408 01:17:59,480 --> 01:18:00,520 Sharda? Would you know? 1409 01:18:04,600 --> 01:18:08,000 Story and I ask you together. I think they cannot publish of 1410 01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:10,520 course. It's it's the greatest. 1411 01:18:11,040 --> 01:18:16,320 It's the greatest, yeah. I think it's clear that these 1412 01:18:16,320 --> 01:18:21,200 are not champion negotiators that are speaking on behalf of 1413 01:18:21,240 --> 01:18:23,920 the ICC. Somebody, when you've seen what 1414 01:18:23,920 --> 01:18:26,360 has happened first, could you send some of the list of 1415 01:18:26,360 --> 01:18:28,120 threads? Whose idea is this? 1416 01:18:28,120 --> 01:18:29,600 List of threads? Yeah. 1417 01:18:31,680 --> 01:18:33,840 I mean, even even with Bangladesh, right? 1418 01:18:34,560 --> 01:18:37,440 Like it's, it's really clear that the guy who's at the head 1419 01:18:37,440 --> 01:18:40,600 of ICC, his father has said horrible things about 1420 01:18:40,600 --> 01:18:43,840 Bangladeshi migrants and immigrants over the years since 1421 01:18:43,840 --> 01:18:45,800 2018. Since even with the previous 1422 01:18:45,800 --> 01:18:48,920 government that had really closed eyes to Bangladesh, that 1423 01:18:48,920 --> 01:18:50,360 was always going to come and haunt them. 1424 01:18:51,120 --> 01:18:53,920 And same with Pakistan. Like how, why would you go and 1425 01:18:53,920 --> 01:18:58,120 send threats like you would considering the press release 1426 01:18:58,120 --> 01:19:03,640 had such a conciliatory tone? Like, it's just, it's just so 1427 01:19:03,640 --> 01:19:06,120 much cognitive dissonance there to see what they're actually 1428 01:19:06,120 --> 01:19:09,640 doing and how they're talking in public and trying to, you know, 1429 01:19:10,280 --> 01:19:14,040 and go ahead, Emma. Yeah, I just want to also like 1430 01:19:14,320 --> 01:19:17,920 threats, I guess is the word I used I I you know, as I said, 1431 01:19:17,920 --> 01:19:22,640 this is not super verified yeah, maybe they they yes or they just 1432 01:19:22,640 --> 01:19:26,160 said came motion by they clink yeah so chilling, you know so I 1433 01:19:26,400 --> 01:19:29,960 yeah, so I don't know how it came about, but what we can. 1434 01:19:30,760 --> 01:19:33,560 Will downgrade threats to. Suggestions. 1435 01:19:33,960 --> 01:19:40,640 Suggestions. Possibility reminders, But what 1436 01:19:40,640 --> 01:19:45,240 we're all calling out. Is the fact that given where the 1437 01:19:45,240 --> 01:19:50,280 situation had gone and given how the ICC, BCCI had been used to 1438 01:19:50,760 --> 01:19:54,920 getting its way across, I think because of that everyone was 1439 01:19:54,920 --> 01:19:57,000 really caught out. You know, like I as I said, like 1440 01:19:57,000 --> 01:19:59,920 I don't want to paint most in like we are some Machiavelli or 1441 01:19:59,920 --> 01:20:01,800 something. As I said, like he had a pretty 1442 01:20:02,040 --> 01:20:04,400 0FS approach. So he's just like, fine, let's 1443 01:20:04,400 --> 01:20:07,760 do it this way. But that ended up calling out 1444 01:20:07,880 --> 01:20:13,800 just the bizarre bullying power imbalance that has been existing 1445 01:20:13,800 --> 01:20:16,320 in cricket, right? And so easiest comparison is as 1446 01:20:16,720 --> 01:20:21,880 some documented so well is how. They reacted to Bangladesh's 1447 01:20:21,880 --> 01:20:25,760 requests and then, you know, had to kind of switch their tone 1448 01:20:25,760 --> 01:20:27,320 when and when Pakistan came to it. 1449 01:20:27,320 --> 01:20:33,160 And I think that's where I'm going to come back to early 90s. 1450 01:20:33,160 --> 01:20:37,920 You know, if you remember dull like Sunny Deol is dating Juhi 1451 01:20:38,600 --> 01:20:41,040 and they have no idea how to deal with Shahrukh, right? 1452 01:20:41,040 --> 01:20:45,680 Like they're just like what? Like like how do you deal with 1453 01:20:45,680 --> 01:20:46,800 that? Like I think that's where 1454 01:20:46,800 --> 01:20:48,840 Pakistan cricket is right now, like. 1455 01:20:53,120 --> 01:20:57,200 No, you know what something is quite interesting about the 1456 01:20:57,200 --> 01:21:00,720 Pakistan, Bangladesh sort of relationship and how they're not 1457 01:21:00,960 --> 01:21:04,360 diplomatic and social cultural, whatever and how he's not 1458 01:21:04,360 --> 01:21:08,440 surprised by, I mean, it's always been improving and so on. 1459 01:21:08,680 --> 01:21:11,440 So Suhasini either put out this great to eat when this whole 1460 01:21:11,440 --> 01:21:14,440 thing started to build around Mustafizur and I'll just read it 1461 01:21:14,440 --> 01:21:16,400 out. I've quoted that in in the in 1462 01:21:16,400 --> 01:21:19,360 the a piece I did for Deccan Herald, which is a more measured 1463 01:21:19,360 --> 01:21:22,480 response to what has been happening and explaining sports 1464 01:21:22,480 --> 01:21:26,160 and and and political sort of entanglement. 1465 01:21:26,160 --> 01:21:29,000 So Suhasini Heather is diplomatic editor of the Hindu, 1466 01:21:29,160 --> 01:21:33,400 supremely well informed strategic affairs, foreign 1467 01:21:33,400 --> 01:21:37,120 policy expert and so on. So she says in her in her tweet, 1468 01:21:37,120 --> 01:21:41,200 he says with neighbor. This is January the 3rd with 1469 01:21:41,200 --> 01:21:43,320 neighbor after neighbor. The government allows social 1470 01:21:43,320 --> 01:21:46,480 media campaigns to overpower its diplomacy and destroy Indian 1471 01:21:46,480 --> 01:21:49,120 soft power. External Affairs Minister 1472 01:21:49,120 --> 01:21:52,120 Jayashankar can visit Dhaka, PM Modi can meet Bangladesh 1473 01:21:52,120 --> 01:21:56,200 leaders, but a cricketer can't play in an in an Indian team. 1474 01:21:56,240 --> 01:21:59,200 So that's what her, you know, it came in response to the news, 1475 01:21:59,200 --> 01:22:02,520 but about Mustafizur and it's this whole thing, you know, that 1476 01:22:02,520 --> 01:22:05,000 social media campaigns are overpowering. 1477 01:22:06,200 --> 01:22:10,640 I mean, they're, they're dominating cricket dominance in 1478 01:22:10,640 --> 01:22:12,440 in many ways. I mean, in India for sure. 1479 01:22:12,840 --> 01:22:16,600 And in from there, from there to the ICC as well. 1480 01:22:17,200 --> 01:22:19,880 It's it's sort of the social media build up that seems to be 1481 01:22:19,880 --> 01:22:22,520 running everything. I think there's one more thing 1482 01:22:22,520 --> 01:22:26,080 that I I said this to somebody else as well, and that's 1483 01:22:26,080 --> 01:22:30,160 something that I've, you know, as as an outsider has surprised 1484 01:22:30,160 --> 01:22:33,840 me, which is the fact that, you know, like again, both in 1485 01:22:33,840 --> 01:22:37,640 Pakistan, they've been movements of basically religious fascism, 1486 01:22:37,640 --> 01:22:41,080 like people with very hard liner views that have based it on some 1487 01:22:41,080 --> 01:22:44,760 kind of faith-based ideology. You saw that enabling 1488 01:22:44,840 --> 01:22:47,200 Afghanistan, other parts of the world as well. 1489 01:22:47,200 --> 01:22:51,360 It's something I would say I've grown up with and so with the 1490 01:22:51,360 --> 01:22:55,040 BJP and having a certain Hindutva worldview, very 1491 01:22:55,040 --> 01:22:58,200 ideological party. You know, if you'd asked me 10 1492 01:22:58,200 --> 01:23:01,320 years ago where Indian cricket, where cricket would be heading, 1493 01:23:01,360 --> 01:23:04,960 I would have imagined that the BCCR or the BJP, sorry, I'm 1494 01:23:05,880 --> 01:23:07,800 using them interchangeably, I shouldn't. 1495 01:23:11,240 --> 01:23:16,560 The BJP, India controlling world cricket, I would have imagined 1496 01:23:16,560 --> 01:23:19,560 that they would have used it as a way of projecting Indian soft 1497 01:23:19,560 --> 01:23:21,440 power, right? So like if there's 30 different 1498 01:23:21,440 --> 01:23:24,360 countries playing cricket and India sending money to all of 1499 01:23:24,360 --> 01:23:28,720 them, that straight away is giving you access to some level 1500 01:23:28,720 --> 01:23:33,320 of soft power, some level of diplomatic leverage or leave it. 1501 01:23:33,640 --> 01:23:35,720 And we see that with Saudi Arabia, right? 1502 01:23:35,720 --> 01:23:38,400 Like, they don't even have their own teams. 1503 01:23:38,400 --> 01:23:40,240 And most of the things that they're spending money on, 1504 01:23:40,240 --> 01:23:43,360 whether it's golf or football, OK, football meant they have. 1505 01:23:43,360 --> 01:23:45,320 But like, you know, other sports that they've been involved 1506 01:23:45,320 --> 01:23:46,560 through increasing amounts of money. 1507 01:23:47,440 --> 01:23:49,960 Yeah, right. And there is no Saudi even 1508 01:23:49,960 --> 01:23:52,680 players in it. And still, it's so invaluable 1509 01:23:52,680 --> 01:23:55,680 for projecting their soft power, projecting who they are. 1510 01:23:55,680 --> 01:24:00,800 And again, like, the FBS was just as much as, you know, kind 1511 01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:04,040 of global pariah as Narendra Modi was at one point. 1512 01:24:04,080 --> 01:24:06,920 And they literally use sports to kind of turn that around. 1513 01:24:07,360 --> 01:24:11,640 It's kind of, you know, I mean, this is me just shutting off my 1514 01:24:11,640 --> 01:24:14,680 political and moral side. But as a cricket fan, I would 1515 01:24:14,680 --> 01:24:19,160 have really hoped that the, the BJP would have used that really 1516 01:24:19,160 --> 01:24:21,720 spread Indian cricket. And maybe they not just Indian 1517 01:24:21,720 --> 01:24:24,000 cricket, international cricket, and maybe they could have banned 1518 01:24:24,000 --> 01:24:27,360 Pakistani players or whatever. And I would have had issues with 1519 01:24:27,360 --> 01:24:29,480 that. But at least the sport would 1520 01:24:29,480 --> 01:24:31,800 have grown. Like what really shocks me is 1521 01:24:31,800 --> 01:24:35,920 this this a, this desire to keep shrinking the sport because it 1522 01:24:35,920 --> 01:24:39,640 shrinks Indian soccer of power. I think it's a really one to one 1523 01:24:39,640 --> 01:24:44,400 kind of relationship there and B, that, you know, which I hate 1524 01:24:44,400 --> 01:24:46,960 to be agreeing with Arnab Goswami, but he's been going on 1525 01:24:46,960 --> 01:24:48,840 like, why did they keep playing? Why don't they boycott? 1526 01:24:48,880 --> 01:24:51,040 Why don't they boycott? And I also wonder, like, you 1527 01:24:51,160 --> 01:24:53,400 know, ideologically you should boycott Pakistan. 1528 01:24:53,400 --> 01:24:57,160 Like, you know, the, the, the Taliban has made unpopular 1529 01:24:57,160 --> 01:24:59,760 decisions because that's what their ideology states. 1530 01:24:59,760 --> 01:25:03,000 Lots of people make unpopular ideological decisions. 1531 01:25:03,480 --> 01:25:06,040 But you keep playing Pakistan and, and it's not like you love 1532 01:25:06,040 --> 01:25:07,600 Pakistan. You're not going to shake hands. 1533 01:25:07,600 --> 01:25:10,080 You're going to celebrate with a fake trophy and whatever. 1534 01:25:10,080 --> 01:25:14,200 So that sort of disappointed by the lack of ideological 1535 01:25:14,360 --> 01:25:18,840 adherence that the BJP has shown because both from, you know, 1536 01:25:18,840 --> 01:25:21,920 either you could have gone the Arnab way and just boycott 1537 01:25:21,920 --> 01:25:25,000 everything, blah, blah, blah, or you could have gone the Saudi 1538 01:25:25,000 --> 01:25:28,200 way and use this to project your power, even if it goes against 1539 01:25:28,200 --> 01:25:30,960 your core ideology. The fact that they've did 1540 01:25:30,960 --> 01:25:34,640 nothing, the fact that they've been so unambitious that to me, 1541 01:25:34,640 --> 01:25:38,760 honestly, like, you know, 2016, Amber could not have predicted 1542 01:25:38,760 --> 01:25:41,040 that at all. And and that's been kind of, 1543 01:25:41,400 --> 01:25:44,600 again, from a human rights perspective, I'm glad. 1544 01:25:45,480 --> 01:25:48,640 But just from like, predicting the future, I'm surprised the 1545 01:25:48,640 --> 01:25:53,480 future ended up here. I I think this handshaking 1546 01:25:53,480 --> 01:25:56,840 thing, but not completely boycotting to play Pakistan, but 1547 01:25:56,840 --> 01:25:59,520 doing all these shenanigans is by design to some extent. 1548 01:25:59,520 --> 01:26:02,720 Because first of all, they are probably confident. 1549 01:26:03,560 --> 01:26:05,200 Yeah, of course. Yeah, that they probably know 1550 01:26:05,200 --> 01:26:06,840 that they're going to beat Pakistan. 1551 01:26:06,880 --> 01:26:11,960 And once India wins, then their supporters go rampant online and 1552 01:26:11,960 --> 01:26:15,600 everywhere, which helps them or they think that it helps them. 1553 01:26:15,600 --> 01:26:22,040 I don't know. You, I think there's also sorry, 1554 01:26:22,040 --> 01:26:24,560 I'm cutting both of you. I'm just surprised because it 1555 01:26:24,560 --> 01:26:29,760 could have just been easier. They come in Pakistan cricket. 1556 01:26:30,240 --> 01:26:32,200 You can't. Reuse that. 1557 01:26:32,720 --> 01:26:34,520 You can't repurpose that again and again. 1558 01:26:34,520 --> 01:26:35,280 You. Can't reuse it. 1559 01:26:35,960 --> 01:26:38,360 Yeah, you play that card once and it's over. 1560 01:26:38,360 --> 01:26:42,440 And I think one of the things we want to talk about is the right 1561 01:26:42,440 --> 01:26:47,640 wing project in in India and it's impact over cricket and 1562 01:26:47,640 --> 01:26:50,920 everything else, even basic things like the perception that 1563 01:26:50,920 --> 01:26:55,920 people have of Pakistan, like even in a propaganda movie, like 1564 01:26:55,920 --> 01:26:58,840 Durander clearly is right. They show that there are really 1565 01:26:58,840 --> 01:27:02,400 nice roads in Pakistan and people are riding their bikes at 1566 01:27:02,400 --> 01:27:04,800 full speed. And like, there's definitely 1567 01:27:04,800 --> 01:27:06,680 people in India who are like, yeah, Ituniachi. 1568 01:27:06,680 --> 01:27:09,840 Roads in Pakistan. Like they're just shocked at 1569 01:27:09,840 --> 01:27:14,240 this. Like how do you how do you say, 1570 01:27:14,360 --> 01:27:17,200 how do you at the same time say that this country is a huge 1571 01:27:17,200 --> 01:27:20,760 threat and we're going to we're not going to let them play with 1572 01:27:20,760 --> 01:27:22,840 us? And then on top of that, they're 1573 01:27:22,840 --> 01:27:25,440 like constantly on top of your minds every day. 1574 01:27:25,440 --> 01:27:27,520 You have to defeat them in some way or the other. 1575 01:27:27,520 --> 01:27:30,560 Like how is that? How does that I? 1576 01:27:31,240 --> 01:27:33,200 Just want to break up something about Dorad there as well, 1577 01:27:33,200 --> 01:27:39,120 because I find it such a amazing thing to unpack because we 1578 01:27:39,120 --> 01:27:41,080 obviously know what the content and I haven't seen it. 1579 01:27:41,080 --> 01:27:43,320 I haven't seen it, but I obviously know what it's about. 1580 01:27:43,320 --> 01:27:48,040 It's and it's about this really important story from my city and 1581 01:27:48,040 --> 01:27:52,160 you all know that you know, like this that one song where this 1582 01:27:52,200 --> 01:27:55,560 the big bad is kind of walking in and this slow motion and 1583 01:27:55,680 --> 01:27:58,520 etcetera, etcetera. And so theoretically that's an 1584 01:27:58,600 --> 01:28:02,600 anti Pakistan movie and that song is about that anti Pakistan 1585 01:28:02,600 --> 01:28:05,400 villain, But obviously it was a good song as a banger. 1586 01:28:05,400 --> 01:28:08,840 It became so popular and and I mean, last week there was some 1587 01:28:08,840 --> 01:28:11,920 domestic tournament that what's his name? 1588 01:28:11,920 --> 01:28:17,080 If the car remeds team won and and they to celebrate, they set 1589 01:28:17,080 --> 01:28:19,840 the trophy right in front. And then if the car does the 1590 01:28:20,320 --> 01:28:22,400 durander walk many girls. Oh. 1591 01:28:22,800 --> 01:28:25,680 My God, this is. It's a video. 1592 01:28:27,080 --> 01:28:28,520 Brilliant. Yeah, I'll send it to you. 1593 01:28:28,520 --> 01:28:29,880 It is. I saw it on the video. 1594 01:28:29,880 --> 01:28:32,680 I saw it on the video and it's just like blue eye white because 1595 01:28:32,680 --> 01:28:36,920 there's like this is really, you know, biggest anti Pakistan kind 1596 01:28:36,920 --> 01:28:39,400 of thing, but it is also a banger and and. 1597 01:28:39,480 --> 01:28:42,360 It is clearly mania if they may want to go is. 1598 01:28:42,680 --> 01:28:46,320 It is it the one that's it's that the the famous? 1599 01:28:46,320 --> 01:28:48,560 Arab is that one. So there's like Arab. 1600 01:28:50,120 --> 01:28:51,920 Is. No, no. 1601 01:28:51,920 --> 01:28:55,640 I think it's the, it's the Omani track, the yes. 1602 01:28:56,520 --> 01:29:00,400 Yes, it's that song, that song, the huge hit in Pakistan people 1603 01:29:00,400 --> 01:29:02,640 are and doing their wedding entries on it. 1604 01:29:02,960 --> 01:29:05,200 It's called Faasla. I think it's called Yeah, the. 1605 01:29:06,680 --> 01:29:08,160 Things you learn on the show. Superb. 1606 01:29:08,160 --> 01:29:11,040 Thank you and. And so yeah, like, I mean, we in 1607 01:29:11,040 --> 01:29:13,960 this all of this Pakistan, India cricket drama, the fact that 1608 01:29:14,320 --> 01:29:18,520 domestic cricket trophy in Pakistan, it's being lifted to 1609 01:29:18,520 --> 01:29:21,320 the soundtrack of this anti Pakistan song. 1610 01:29:21,320 --> 01:29:24,200 I think that's just it captures South Asia so perfectly. 1611 01:29:24,960 --> 01:29:28,120 No, no, the other one, the other that, that's a great example, 1612 01:29:28,120 --> 01:29:30,720 Emma, that you're giving. The other one to me was, you 1613 01:29:30,720 --> 01:29:31,760 know, this handshake is going on. 1614 01:29:31,760 --> 01:29:35,120 Not shaking, not shaking out. So same under 19 World Cup, no 1615 01:29:35,120 --> 01:29:36,360 handshakes happened before the match. 1616 01:29:36,360 --> 01:29:37,760 You know, after the match they shook hands. 1617 01:29:39,440 --> 01:29:42,280 People are noting the players shook hands after the match and 1618 01:29:42,280 --> 01:29:43,480 they conditioned what they were doing. 1619 01:29:43,720 --> 01:29:48,680 But this was, I know if I said this before, they had a women's 1620 01:29:48,680 --> 01:29:51,960 World Cup for the blind in Sri Lanka, right? 1621 01:29:52,040 --> 01:29:56,480 And in that match, the Indian blind women's team and the 1622 01:29:56,480 --> 01:29:58,920 Pakistani blind women's team, they just shook hands. 1623 01:29:59,080 --> 01:30:01,200 It was no big deal. It was like they're telling you, 1624 01:30:01,200 --> 01:30:04,240 you idiots, can you not see everything that's going on? 1625 01:30:04,240 --> 01:30:06,080 We are the ones who were supposedly are not supposed to 1626 01:30:06,080 --> 01:30:08,320 see. I mean, to me that I, I never 1627 01:30:08,320 --> 01:30:10,680 forgot that. I never forgot that image. 1628 01:30:10,680 --> 01:30:12,640 I never forgot that story. I said in the middle of all this 1629 01:30:12,640 --> 01:30:15,880 madness, there's some people who've got sense and said this 1630 01:30:15,920 --> 01:30:16,800 is it. This is our. 1631 01:30:16,800 --> 01:30:19,520 This is in our little universe. We shake hands, you know? 1632 01:30:20,200 --> 01:30:23,800 Yeah. It's I, I can't even, I can't 1633 01:30:23,800 --> 01:30:29,120 even think about like what sort of fine line you have to walk to 1634 01:30:29,400 --> 01:30:33,480 not shake hands or and still play and say bad things about 1635 01:30:33,480 --> 01:30:37,280 them everyday and still play. And I don't get it. 1636 01:30:37,680 --> 01:30:42,640 But just to just to see like take a take a long term view of 1637 01:30:42,640 --> 01:30:46,160 this, right, Shada, is there any appetite for putting the genie 1638 01:30:46,160 --> 01:30:50,320 back in the bottle for Jaisha? Like are there any concessions 1639 01:30:50,320 --> 01:30:55,280 that they can make to both Pakistan and Bangladesh or just 1640 01:30:55,280 --> 01:30:58,120 the ghosts of their past deeds coming back to haunt them like 1641 01:30:58,280 --> 01:30:59,720 Lady Macbeth? Like is that? 1642 01:31:00,400 --> 01:31:02,320 Now we have Shakespeare as well. Excellent. 1643 01:31:02,880 --> 01:31:06,720 So, no, I mean, I'm just wondering where this goes and 1644 01:31:06,720 --> 01:31:10,440 how this goes because if you are going to play in the Los Angeles 1645 01:31:10,440 --> 01:31:13,800 Olympics, if you're going to be a world sport, what does this 1646 01:31:13,800 --> 01:31:16,240 look like? You know, I know that Sushant 1647 01:31:16,840 --> 01:31:20,520 had some terrific observations, Sushant Singh that he made on on 1648 01:31:20,560 --> 01:31:23,760 on the podcast about the fact that people are going around the 1649 01:31:23,760 --> 01:31:27,240 smaller countries of I'm not taking names because I've 1650 01:31:27,400 --> 01:31:32,280 already got into enough nonsense by doing that, that smaller 1651 01:31:32,280 --> 01:31:36,040 countries are being visited and by ICC officials and they're 1652 01:31:36,040 --> 01:31:39,400 being certain conversations as assume are happening about 1653 01:31:39,880 --> 01:31:43,480 supporting India's bid for the 2036 Olympics, which is sounds a 1654 01:31:43,480 --> 01:31:47,400 bit absolutely OTD. But anyway, so I mean, it's not 1655 01:31:47,400 --> 01:31:50,240 that I don't believe it. You're, you're just wondering 1656 01:31:50,240 --> 01:31:53,440 how you going to dial down and dial back on this and where are 1657 01:31:53,440 --> 01:31:56,640 you going to go from here? Because this is absolutely and 1658 01:31:57,400 --> 01:32:00,040 it's, it's, it's an utter dumpster fire. 1659 01:32:00,040 --> 01:32:01,760 That is that you have started, right? 1660 01:32:01,760 --> 01:32:04,960 You have set this in motion. And, and what happens now when 1661 01:32:04,960 --> 01:32:08,600 the monies are going to be sought after, when those deals 1662 01:32:08,600 --> 01:32:10,800 are going to go out? What kind of conversations can 1663 01:32:10,800 --> 01:32:15,400 you have about this? What about the, you know, so the 1664 01:32:15,400 --> 01:32:19,520 other story, what if India and Pakistan make the finals or of 1665 01:32:19,520 --> 01:32:21,600 course the Pakistan is going to play, then they said, we're not 1666 01:32:21,600 --> 01:32:23,240 going for that match on the 15th. 1667 01:32:23,240 --> 01:32:27,520 We will not play, but how does this thing, I can't figure out 1668 01:32:27,520 --> 01:32:30,120 how they're going to solve this because it'll mean somebody 1669 01:32:30,440 --> 01:32:34,400 standing down, somebody backing off, you know, and, and how do 1670 01:32:34,400 --> 01:32:37,360 you back off when social media campaigns seem to be the way 1671 01:32:37,360 --> 01:32:40,360 that you are running the spot, you are running the spot on 1672 01:32:40,360 --> 01:32:42,760 social media. You are not being able to send 1673 01:32:42,760 --> 01:32:45,960 out a no, you did send out that very that strange place release. 1674 01:32:47,040 --> 01:32:49,680 And you know, I don't know whether this happened around the 1675 01:32:49,680 --> 01:32:52,480 time of Bangladesh that reporters got this message 1676 01:32:52,480 --> 01:32:55,560 saying that this is from ICC. But you cannot quote us with 1677 01:32:55,600 --> 01:32:57,400 Bangladesh situation WhatsApp messages. 1678 01:32:57,520 --> 01:32:59,080 Really. Yes. 1679 01:32:59,520 --> 01:33:05,200 I, I don't, but I mean, the often we get this ICC, sometimes 1680 01:33:05,200 --> 01:33:07,960 they, I think that's how they sometimes communicate with any 1681 01:33:07,960 --> 01:33:10,720 reporter, yeah. Yeah, but there's a reporter 1 1682 01:33:10,720 --> 01:33:12,240 reporter. Not with a whole bunch on a 1683 01:33:12,240 --> 01:33:16,040 WhatsApp group, no. No, no, no, no, I haven't heard. 1684 01:33:16,040 --> 01:33:18,840 I haven't heard that one, but I don't know whether you guys 1685 01:33:18,840 --> 01:33:22,560 know, but they approved some journalists of their creation. 1686 01:33:22,560 --> 01:33:25,200 Then they rejected it. I don't know where it stands 1687 01:33:25,200 --> 01:33:29,360 right now, but they rejected about 150 journalists from 1688 01:33:29,360 --> 01:33:34,600 covering the World Cup. And then I think 50, yeah, 150 1689 01:33:34,600 --> 01:33:37,560 usually apply from Bangladesh. So yeah, all of them were 1690 01:33:37,680 --> 01:33:39,120 rejected. All of them were rejected. 1691 01:33:39,120 --> 01:33:43,280 And then I think through another mediatory, they sent a message 1692 01:33:43,280 --> 01:33:45,720 that, OK, let us know if you really want to come. 1693 01:33:45,720 --> 01:33:47,280 We'll try to get you a credation. 1694 01:33:47,280 --> 01:33:48,760 And stuff. I don't know, we're doing time 1695 01:33:48,920 --> 01:33:50,480 pass. We just was trying to see. 1696 01:33:50,480 --> 01:33:52,800 Yeah, I don't, I don't know whether anyone called back or 1697 01:33:52,800 --> 01:33:54,240 anything, but. There was news. 1698 01:33:54,240 --> 01:33:56,640 Anyone go from? Bangladesh. 1699 01:33:56,640 --> 01:33:58,520 Not that I've spotted yet because I don't think they'll 1700 01:33:58,520 --> 01:34:00,520 get the visa as well. So it's very difficult to get a 1701 01:34:00,520 --> 01:34:03,560 visa now from Bangladesh apart from medical visa, yeah. 1702 01:34:03,960 --> 01:34:05,360 OK, OK, OK, OK. OK. 1703 01:34:05,880 --> 01:34:08,080 So you're looking at this and say, are you trying to increase 1704 01:34:08,080 --> 01:34:10,920 the game or trying to shrink the game, You know, and OK. 1705 01:34:12,040 --> 01:34:15,080 I always found it funny that when Bangladesh became a Tesla 1706 01:34:15,080 --> 01:34:16,560 mission, they said we are spreading the game. 1707 01:34:16,960 --> 01:34:20,240 You're just spreading it. You know, spreading the game 1708 01:34:20,240 --> 01:34:23,280 would have been taking it to the Latin countries about what you 1709 01:34:23,280 --> 01:34:26,960 know, even to Europe. Listen, this is now 2000, OK? 1710 01:34:27,000 --> 01:34:32,800 In 2000, in 2000, I tell you, all the countries who are not of 1711 01:34:32,800 --> 01:34:36,840 the same colour as we are, all of us in this group had a 1712 01:34:36,840 --> 01:34:40,440 problem with getting Bangladesh in for whatever reason, right? 1713 01:34:40,440 --> 01:34:43,320 So let's not, let's not think that that was a small thing that 1714 01:34:43,320 --> 01:34:45,080 happened. I'm not saying that Jaguar 1715 01:34:45,080 --> 01:34:48,640 Dalmia who posted, posted posted the same, was the same, but he 1716 01:34:48,640 --> 01:34:51,000 pushed. And I mean, you want more people 1717 01:34:51,000 --> 01:34:53,920 on rather than less. No, you got more people. 1718 01:34:53,960 --> 01:34:56,480 You got, you got like immediately you got 100 and 1719 01:34:56,920 --> 01:34:59,240 whatever, 150 million people at that time, whatever the 1720 01:34:59,240 --> 01:35:01,920 population of Bangladesh, you got more than that many people 1721 01:35:01,920 --> 01:35:03,960 more into, into sort of the scheme of things. 1722 01:35:03,960 --> 01:35:05,360 What's the point of them playing that? 1723 01:35:05,600 --> 01:35:08,040 What's it called? The tournament that it was 1724 01:35:08,040 --> 01:35:10,520 called? The, you know, the one that no. 1725 01:35:10,880 --> 01:35:12,680 ICC. The one, the one that they had 1726 01:35:12,680 --> 01:35:13,600 that ICC. Trophy. 1727 01:35:14,240 --> 01:35:16,520 ICC Trophy Correct Correct they. Qualifies, yeah. 1728 01:35:16,840 --> 01:35:18,640 Yeah, yeah. So that's not the only thing. 1729 01:35:18,960 --> 01:35:21,600 So of course we would go to Latin America. 1730 01:35:21,600 --> 01:35:24,720 Nobody saying no, but like right here, like Nepal at the at the 1731 01:35:24,720 --> 01:35:27,200 point at this point in time, it's Nepal, you know, why will 1732 01:35:27,200 --> 01:35:30,080 you not want to, of course, make the game gross? 1733 01:35:30,200 --> 01:35:32,320 You're supposed to. You're trying to do it, you 1734 01:35:32,320 --> 01:35:34,120 know. So it's it's fine. 1735 01:35:34,120 --> 01:35:36,560 But it imagine if Bangladesh would not have got full 1736 01:35:36,560 --> 01:35:38,680 membership. You'll still be hanging in one 1737 01:35:38,680 --> 01:35:40,400 limbo anyway. They've got full membership and 1738 01:35:40,400 --> 01:35:41,800 they've been treated like this, you know? 1739 01:35:42,560 --> 01:35:44,560 And the knockout is actually another great example. 1740 01:35:44,560 --> 01:35:47,840 When it was started, it was spoken about as we're taking 1741 01:35:47,840 --> 01:35:49,960 cricket to these. It's a smaller version of the 1742 01:35:49,960 --> 01:35:51,200 World Cup. We're taking it to these new 1743 01:35:51,200 --> 01:35:52,680 countries. So the first version was in 1744 01:35:53,000 --> 01:35:54,720 Dhaka, second was in Nairobi. Nairobi. 1745 01:35:55,480 --> 01:35:56,760 Yeah. Third came to Sri Lanka. 1746 01:35:56,840 --> 01:36:00,520 And from there it's been South Africa, India, England, England 1747 01:36:00,720 --> 01:36:02,320 again. No, it's just you. 1748 01:36:02,360 --> 01:36:04,840 It was. Done within 10 days. 1749 01:36:05,120 --> 01:36:06,480 And that was such a great format. 1750 01:36:07,200 --> 01:36:10,200 Just pure Jeopardy. Everyone plays everyone. 1751 01:36:10,200 --> 01:36:13,480 You one match in and out I think. 1752 01:36:13,680 --> 01:36:16,120 This is it's also important here. 1753 01:36:16,120 --> 01:36:19,240 We're talking we, you know, there's a lot of people here 1754 01:36:19,240 --> 01:36:24,040 from India who've been very open about calling out to BCCI and, 1755 01:36:24,040 --> 01:36:28,400 and very rightfully so. But let's be very clear, even 1756 01:36:28,400 --> 01:36:33,520 the worst BCCI administration has shown more interest in 1757 01:36:33,520 --> 01:36:36,560 quote, UN quote spreading the game than England and Australia, 1758 01:36:36,920 --> 01:36:40,840 you know, and and there's no interest in those cricketing 1759 01:36:40,840 --> 01:36:44,040 fraternities to expand the game. There's zero interest. 1760 01:36:44,360 --> 01:36:48,200 And I think I wanted like, it's just, this is a pet peeve of 1761 01:36:48,200 --> 01:36:50,840 mine anyways. But it was like a few days ago, 1762 01:36:50,840 --> 01:36:53,320 The Guardian did this story before Pakistan's boycott. 1763 01:36:53,320 --> 01:36:55,360 So there were other things happening in world cricket and 1764 01:36:55,360 --> 01:37:00,280 they do this story about like Australia find hope for next 1765 01:37:00,280 --> 01:37:03,160 Ashes. And I was like, OK, the Ashes 1766 01:37:03,160 --> 01:37:05,520 just ended yesterday So what the hell is the story? 1767 01:37:05,960 --> 01:37:10,320 The story is about the captain of the Australian under 19 World 1768 01:37:10,320 --> 01:37:12,400 Cup team. Who's it at that point was in 1769 01:37:12,400 --> 01:37:17,240 the semi final, you know, and they shoehorn this into this 1770 01:37:17,240 --> 01:37:20,440 under 19 kid who's probably maybe part of Australia's Test 1771 01:37:20,440 --> 01:37:22,520 team 18 months from now, maybe won't be. 1772 01:37:22,920 --> 01:37:30,200 But that's the kind of, you know, the cricket to unki Koi. 1773 01:37:30,200 --> 01:37:34,640 They'll just be to expand the sport at all. 1774 01:37:34,640 --> 01:37:37,280 So even when it's happened, and I think particularly 1775 01:37:37,280 --> 01:37:41,600 millennials, bit older, bit younger, we've had the fortune 1776 01:37:41,600 --> 01:37:44,760 or misfortune of growing up at a time where the Asian block was 1777 01:37:44,760 --> 01:37:49,000 an active thing and was actively trying to shift the global power 1778 01:37:49,000 --> 01:37:51,240 away, right. So we still have these 1779 01:37:51,240 --> 01:37:55,640 conceptions of how the game should be more equal because we 1780 01:37:55,640 --> 01:37:59,440 have kind of experienced that intent playing out in our 1781 01:37:59,440 --> 01:38:02,600 lifetimes. There is no interest in making 1782 01:38:02,600 --> 01:38:05,160 cricket a global sport. There has never been any 1783 01:38:05,160 --> 01:38:07,600 interest in making cricket a global sport, particularly under 1784 01:38:07,600 --> 01:38:10,480 the imperial setup. And then, you know, over the 1785 01:38:10,480 --> 01:38:13,840 last 10-15 years with just a focus on, you know, the big 1786 01:38:13,840 --> 01:38:16,080 three, etcetera, we've, we've shrunk again. 1787 01:38:16,480 --> 01:38:20,040 But I think wait, it was the anomaly in the intervening 20-30 1788 01:38:20,040 --> 01:38:24,640 years where you saw this desire to, to move the games power 1789 01:38:24,640 --> 01:38:27,160 center away. And even if something happens 1790 01:38:27,160 --> 01:38:30,040 right now, like maybe the Hindutva government goes out of 1791 01:38:30,040 --> 01:38:33,880 power, maybe they raise, you know, to me, like, I think that 1792 01:38:33,880 --> 01:38:38,600 next renegotiation with Geostar for the ICC rights, that's going 1793 01:38:38,600 --> 01:38:41,560 to have a huge, huge impact. You know, whether people have 1794 01:38:41,560 --> 01:38:44,680 certain ideologies or what right now, they'll have to deal with a 1795 01:38:44,680 --> 01:38:48,040 very different reality then. But one thing I can say for sure 1796 01:38:48,040 --> 01:38:50,440 is that nothing's going to come from India and Australia. 1797 01:38:50,480 --> 01:38:53,760 England and Australia, like they've really betrayed their 1798 01:38:53,760 --> 01:38:57,160 lack of understanding of the global sport. 1799 01:38:57,160 --> 01:39:00,360 Forget what kind of, you know, opinions they have. 1800 01:39:00,600 --> 01:39:02,320 They literally don't even, I don't know what they're talking 1801 01:39:02,320 --> 01:39:06,240 about. So that I think myopia, that 1802 01:39:06,240 --> 01:39:09,920 kind of bias. Even the worst bigoted Indian 1803 01:39:09,920 --> 01:39:13,240 administrators are not as clueless as what England and 1804 01:39:13,240 --> 01:39:15,360 Australia have repeatedly done in world cricket. 1805 01:39:15,360 --> 01:39:17,600 So, you know, when we're thinking about the future, the 1806 01:39:17,600 --> 01:39:19,720 future will also come from South Asia. 1807 01:39:19,720 --> 01:39:23,360 Good or bad, there's definitely nothing happening from those two 1808 01:39:23,360 --> 01:39:25,080 areas. I'm glad. 1809 01:39:25,160 --> 01:39:26,200 You called it out? Yeah. 1810 01:39:26,920 --> 01:39:29,520 Go ahead, Zapping. You know I was just like when 1811 01:39:29,520 --> 01:39:31,560 Emma was saying I was also thinking like Australia don't 1812 01:39:31,560 --> 01:39:34,640 holds Bangladesh, Australia refused to play Pakistan, 1813 01:39:35,000 --> 01:39:37,720 England last year hosted Zimbabwe's after the first time 1814 01:39:37,720 --> 01:39:42,080 after 2003. These countries barely play Sri 1815 01:39:42,080 --> 01:39:46,720 Lanka until 1998 when Murali took I think what 9 wickets at 1816 01:39:46,720 --> 01:39:48,520 the Oval. England used to give Sri Lanka 1817 01:39:48,520 --> 01:39:50,960 one test every tour, come play one test leave. 1818 01:39:51,440 --> 01:39:55,720 So it's an BCCI, for better or worse, have done their bit for 1819 01:39:55,720 --> 01:39:57,400 Afghanistan cricket this and that. 1820 01:39:57,800 --> 01:40:02,160 So I think it's spot on that if the future of the cricket is in 1821 01:40:02,160 --> 01:40:08,120 jeopardy, is ECB and CA have a massive role to play in just 1822 01:40:08,720 --> 01:40:13,000 completely siphoning all their attention to the to the money 1823 01:40:13,000 --> 01:40:15,920 spinners and not even acknowledging the rest? 1824 01:40:16,000 --> 01:40:19,200 Because the way Australia treated that Afghanistan tour, 1825 01:40:19,800 --> 01:40:21,800 they weren't taking a principal stance. 1826 01:40:22,040 --> 01:40:24,360 They were taking a very what's the point? 1827 01:40:24,440 --> 01:40:26,360 I mean, Afghanistan tour isn't going to generate money, 1828 01:40:26,360 --> 01:40:28,000 generate crowds. Fuck it. 1829 01:40:28,520 --> 01:40:33,000 So yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm very glad I'm what you call it out. 1830 01:40:33,080 --> 01:40:36,320 Sharda, please go ahead. Exactly, I'm, I'm in agreement 1831 01:40:36,320 --> 01:40:39,880 with what you're saying is because of And So what makes me 1832 01:40:39,880 --> 01:40:43,960 really even more frustrated because I've seen that past 1833 01:40:43,960 --> 01:40:46,400 where there were Asian broad blocks stood for something and 1834 01:40:46,400 --> 01:40:51,400 it pissed off everybody, all the old, old powers is that you're 1835 01:40:51,400 --> 01:40:54,040 behaving in the same way as the old powers have behaved, right. 1836 01:40:54,040 --> 01:40:57,560 India is the leader of this Asian bloc, former Asian bloc is 1837 01:40:57,560 --> 01:40:59,800 behaving in the same way as the old powers behave that it's all 1838 01:40:59,800 --> 01:41:01,120 about us. It's all about our IPL. 1839 01:41:01,120 --> 01:41:03,720 It's all about this little, this thing that we've made. 1840 01:41:04,040 --> 01:41:07,320 I mean, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, all these other 1841 01:41:07,320 --> 01:41:10,760 countries, Afghanistan as well, Nepal as well. 1842 01:41:11,040 --> 01:41:14,760 They've changed the way they've changed the the grammar, the 1843 01:41:14,760 --> 01:41:17,480 vocabulary, the DNA of cricket, how it's played, how it's 1844 01:41:17,480 --> 01:41:21,160 interpreted, what it stands for. And still there is no 1845 01:41:21,160 --> 01:41:24,520 imagination to see what this means in, in, in the world. 1846 01:41:24,520 --> 01:41:26,840 We should, I mean, the Asia Cup should be the most well 1847 01:41:26,840 --> 01:41:31,960 publicized and marketed and whatever tournament and not this 1848 01:41:32,160 --> 01:41:37,120 playground for no handshakes and all kinds of gestures of, you 1849 01:41:37,120 --> 01:41:42,360 know, send offs and whatever. And it's, it's just so you're 1850 01:41:42,360 --> 01:41:45,240 looking at it, say, can you not see what you have, what you are 1851 01:41:45,240 --> 01:41:48,080 giving to the sport and, and what are you making of it in in 1852 01:41:48,080 --> 01:41:51,360 this spot? And I'm hearing 94 day 94 match 1853 01:41:51,360 --> 01:41:53,680 IPL and thinking Oh my God this is what it's about. 1854 01:41:55,280 --> 01:41:59,440 More matches of what is that caption they put Rishabh Panty? 1855 01:41:59,960 --> 01:42:01,640 I'm not even making this up. I wish I was. 1856 01:42:02,160 --> 01:42:05,400 I wish I was. It came out as an act today. 1857 01:42:05,600 --> 01:42:07,920 It came as an act today. More Rishabh Panty. 1858 01:42:08,400 --> 01:42:12,640 King Kohli legends why then some should they put and Rishabh Pant 1859 01:42:12,640 --> 01:42:16,440 does the backflip and that is the caption they had. 1860 01:42:16,960 --> 01:42:19,720 I I don't know why you're critiquing this dude. 1861 01:42:19,720 --> 01:42:22,680 That's, that's so good. Rishabh Patti. 1862 01:42:24,520 --> 01:42:27,280 Because I think there is another phrase along with it that goes 1863 01:42:27,280 --> 01:42:29,600 which is probably not that polite, which is possibly what's 1864 01:42:29,600 --> 01:42:31,920 coming itself. No, no, that's I know. 1865 01:42:31,920 --> 01:42:35,280 And I feel it's such a great way of getting capturing Rishabh. 1866 01:42:49,680 --> 01:42:54,960 I was talking about the Tiger Shroff movie anyway, no. 1867 01:42:54,960 --> 01:42:56,640 Hero Banti. Yeah. 1868 01:42:56,720 --> 01:43:01,320 So I'm afraid you do such a lovely job with butterfast and 1869 01:43:01,320 --> 01:43:03,440 it's a beautiful and lyrical podcast. 1870 01:43:03,480 --> 01:43:06,880 I love it. What do you think is the 1871 01:43:07,000 --> 01:43:10,880 historical or literary parallel to the situation? 1872 01:43:11,280 --> 01:43:16,120 Are we more in Lord of the Flies or is it more like Deep Water 1873 01:43:16,120 --> 01:43:19,040 Horizon where it's a huge spill and it takes ages to come back? 1874 01:43:19,040 --> 01:43:21,160 What? Is deep water horizon? 1875 01:43:22,120 --> 01:43:27,200 I've never seen that. It's it's a massive, massive oil 1876 01:43:27,200 --> 01:43:29,560 spill that was done by British Petroleum. 1877 01:43:30,120 --> 01:43:36,920 Oh, I thought, good movie. Yeah, I think Mark Wahlberg was 1878 01:43:36,920 --> 01:43:39,760 in it, yeah. I am sorry guys, I was talking 1879 01:43:39,760 --> 01:43:41,920 about Pakistan as Shahrukh from Dal. 1880 01:43:41,920 --> 01:43:45,680 I that's, that's the kind of thinking that I'm going towards. 1881 01:43:45,680 --> 01:43:48,360 I think Lord of Flies, definitely not. 1882 01:43:49,960 --> 01:43:52,760 You know, we've we've had the situation where the straightest 1883 01:43:52,760 --> 01:43:55,280 was been upset for the first time in like a decade and a 1884 01:43:55,280 --> 01:43:57,040 half. And I think a lot of the 1885 01:43:57,040 --> 01:44:01,240 reaction is really about the fact that someone dared to do 1886 01:44:01,240 --> 01:44:02,840 that. Like if you look at the bottom 1887 01:44:02,840 --> 01:44:05,640 line, the bottom line is not really changing much. 1888 01:44:05,880 --> 01:44:07,760 The three richest boards are going to remain the three 1889 01:44:07,760 --> 01:44:10,280 richest boards. The amount of money in the game, 1890 01:44:10,480 --> 01:44:13,720 we've passed the peak. So the that that money is going 1891 01:44:13,720 --> 01:44:17,080 to shrink and all these other kind of situations. 1892 01:44:17,080 --> 01:44:21,680 So, and I said like I, I feel that's why Shahrukh and dad is a 1893 01:44:21,680 --> 01:44:25,480 good example because that's the only route over here right where 1894 01:44:25,480 --> 01:44:27,880 you're so crazy. Like as there's a infamous 1895 01:44:27,880 --> 01:44:31,720 saying that Pakistan in Pakistan diplomacy that it's a country, 1896 01:44:31,800 --> 01:44:35,280 it's a madman with a gun to its head, you know, telling others 1897 01:44:35,280 --> 01:44:36,880 to pay me, otherwise I'll shoot myself. 1898 01:44:36,880 --> 01:44:41,200 Like that kind of maverickness to Pakistan's diplomacy. 1899 01:44:41,600 --> 01:44:43,400 You can kind of see that over here as well. 1900 01:44:43,400 --> 01:44:46,840 Like this isn't something that they've got like, oh, we're 1901 01:44:46,840 --> 01:44:49,840 we're picking a fight with India because we've invested in our 1902 01:44:50,360 --> 01:44:53,040 infrastructure for cricket or this or that or we're going to 1903 01:44:53,040 --> 01:44:55,400 make more money. There's none of that happening, 1904 01:44:55,400 --> 01:44:57,360 right? So that's why like I'm sticking 1905 01:44:57,360 --> 01:45:00,800 with Shahrukh from that or, or some, you know, Joaquin from 1906 01:45:00,800 --> 01:45:03,960 Joker or something like that. Like I think those are the the 1907 01:45:03,960 --> 01:45:10,600 only those kind of problematic villains that you have a soft 1908 01:45:10,600 --> 01:45:13,320 spot for. I think that's, that's where you 1909 01:45:13,320 --> 01:45:16,760 find. Yeah, that's like it's, it's, 1910 01:45:17,840 --> 01:45:20,080 it's like the Anaconda from the movie Anaconda. 1911 01:45:20,080 --> 01:45:21,720 Like, you know, end with Marna. I was saying. 1912 01:45:22,120 --> 01:45:24,640 But it's going to take some people down with it. 1913 01:45:27,080 --> 01:45:28,840 Oh my God. OK. 1914 01:45:28,840 --> 01:45:33,320 I had one question about the CWG that is happening in 2013 at the 1915 01:45:33,320 --> 01:45:39,800 home of Ricket and the possible, the possible Olympics that they 1916 01:45:39,800 --> 01:45:43,280 want to host also at the home of Ricket in 2036. 1917 01:45:43,640 --> 01:45:46,240 What are they going to do? Because if they are now 1918 01:45:46,240 --> 01:45:51,600 antagonizing the entire Asian block that antagonizes, 1919 01:45:51,760 --> 01:45:54,720 antagonizing all the neighbors, they are alienating their 1920 01:45:54,720 --> 01:45:57,480 friends. How do they manage, forget the 1921 01:45:57,480 --> 01:46:00,000 2036, how do they manage 2030 Commonwealth Games? 1922 01:46:00,000 --> 01:46:02,440 Are they suddenly going to go like, actually, you know what, 1923 01:46:03,080 --> 01:46:05,200 this show has gone long enough. Why don't you come over? 1924 01:46:05,840 --> 01:46:07,920 How do you approach that? Because the moment you're saying 1925 01:46:07,920 --> 01:46:10,160 Commonwealth Games, you have to open your doors to pretty much 1926 01:46:10,200 --> 01:46:12,640 everybody in the Commonwealth. Same for the Olympics. 1927 01:46:12,640 --> 01:46:16,480 So you can't, like, can you say that we won't allow people into 1928 01:46:16,480 --> 01:46:19,160 our country from certain countries but also bid to host 1929 01:46:19,160 --> 01:46:21,920 the Olympics? I think there is a way to doing 1930 01:46:21,920 --> 01:46:24,960 that, and Saudi Arabia and to a less extent Qatar have already 1931 01:46:24,960 --> 01:46:27,720 shown you that way. If you throw enough money at it, 1932 01:46:28,120 --> 01:46:31,560 no one cares about whatever problems you've been causing. 1933 01:46:31,560 --> 01:46:33,000 Right. And like, Qatar still had a 1934 01:46:33,000 --> 01:46:36,000 slower transformation. Saudi Arabia went from like the 1935 01:46:36,040 --> 01:46:41,000 Khashoggi case to hosting all of sports and like literally weeks, 1936 01:46:41,000 --> 01:46:44,400 if not, you know, like it. It was if you have enough money, 1937 01:46:44,880 --> 01:46:47,920 I think these kind of U Patang issues won't happen. 1938 01:46:47,920 --> 01:46:50,480 I think something that many Indians have also pointed out is 1939 01:46:50,480 --> 01:46:54,160 that the BJP, you know, within Islam itself, right from the 1940 01:46:54,160 --> 01:46:57,480 beginning of Islam, there's been Arab Muslims versus the other 1941 01:46:57,480 --> 01:46:59,320 Muslims. And there was always the kind of 1942 01:46:59,320 --> 01:47:02,880 tension between that. The BJP also is down with that, 1943 01:47:02,880 --> 01:47:05,040 like they're love the Gulf Muslims. 1944 01:47:05,720 --> 01:47:07,920 Is this South Asian Muslims they don't want to be down with? 1945 01:47:07,920 --> 01:47:13,560 So I could totally foresee that path that these Gulf states took 1946 01:47:13,560 --> 01:47:16,480 to hosting events, which was basically throwing insane 1947 01:47:16,480 --> 01:47:19,760 amounts of money at whoever was involved. 1948 01:47:19,760 --> 01:47:23,640 And it's not like that, you know, Saudi or Qatar major 1949 01:47:23,640 --> 01:47:26,880 approachments with with, with other countries that they've had 1950 01:47:26,880 --> 01:47:29,840 fights with. So I don't necessarily think 1951 01:47:29,840 --> 01:47:32,120 that's something that the BJP needs to do. 1952 01:47:32,360 --> 01:47:36,080 The question of course comes to who's going to be fronting all 1953 01:47:36,080 --> 01:47:38,560 that money. Like, I think Saudi money is, is 1954 01:47:38,560 --> 01:47:41,840 still very different from like India's ability to spend money 1955 01:47:42,200 --> 01:47:47,640 and whether, you know, whether there is that appetite for 1956 01:47:47,640 --> 01:47:51,760 diplomatic building because again, like, because India is 1957 01:47:51,760 --> 01:47:55,080 just at least in the world of cricket has only operated in 1958 01:47:55,080 --> 01:47:59,680 full Badmashi, that approach obviously will be hard to do in 1959 01:47:59,680 --> 01:48:02,600 other places. So I, I think if there's, you 1960 01:48:02,600 --> 01:48:06,600 know, there is they, they've shown, they haven't shown any 1961 01:48:06,600 --> 01:48:10,720 great diplomacy so far. But as I said, like, it's really 1962 01:48:10,720 --> 01:48:12,160 money. If they have enough money, you 1963 01:48:12,160 --> 01:48:13,800 don't need to be diplomatic either. 1964 01:48:14,840 --> 01:48:18,880 Guess who's leading the charge for the Olympics from India? 1965 01:48:19,960 --> 01:48:31,160 That's called the IPL. That function is called the IPL. 1966 01:48:31,840 --> 01:48:35,640 But she was at the Paris Olympics. 1967 01:48:36,000 --> 01:48:39,160 So one day in the Paris Olympics, she literally asked 1968 01:48:39,160 --> 01:48:41,640 all the athletes to come over to the India House and do photo 1969 01:48:41,640 --> 01:48:43,760 OPS. And this is athlete. 1970 01:48:46,400 --> 01:48:49,960 It's the same argument right? BCCI brings 80% of revenue to 1971 01:48:49,960 --> 01:48:53,880 ICC bro. It's the same argument If Nita 1972 01:48:53,880 --> 01:48:57,160 Ambani brings so much money to the IOC bro then why can't she 1973 01:48:57,160 --> 01:49:00,400 take pictures? Bro, I feel bad for Mondo 1974 01:49:00,400 --> 01:49:05,280 Duplantis. He gets up, brushes he see he's 1975 01:49:05,280 --> 01:49:09,880 like OK 6.3 I've reached should I do 6.35 or 6.33 and then do 1976 01:49:09,880 --> 01:49:16,240 the texts her key Hello photo please dose those Lionel Messi 1977 01:49:16,880 --> 01:49:21,120 or Yeah seriously. I have actually seen him play 1978 01:49:21,120 --> 01:49:26,080 live and it's in my city that he came and like legit my family 1979 01:49:26,080 --> 01:49:27,360 like here are you coming? I was like. 1980 01:49:27,960 --> 01:49:30,440 No by ye flex nahi. Saw it happening. 1981 01:49:30,440 --> 01:49:34,320 I was like, thank you. By ye flex nahi usne usko apne 1982 01:49:34,320 --> 01:49:40,720 personal zoom. Do you think they do you? 1983 01:49:41,720 --> 01:49:45,840 Do you think they fed him the same khichdi that they fed that 1984 01:49:45,840 --> 01:49:46,600 reporter Rahul? Rahul. 1985 01:49:47,520 --> 01:49:48,440 Khan. They. 1986 01:49:48,680 --> 01:49:50,560 Didn't feed him, They didn't feed him? 1987 01:49:50,760 --> 01:49:52,440 He asked. He asked. 1988 01:49:52,920 --> 01:49:57,400 Can I taste it? And Khichdi and Rahul Khanwar is 1989 01:49:57,400 --> 01:49:59,760 like, actually, you know, when I go to people's houses and they 1990 01:49:59,760 --> 01:50:02,800 have really cute dogs, I also have pedigree sometimes. 1991 01:50:03,640 --> 01:50:05,560 So he's like, can I have this khichdi? 1992 01:50:07,880 --> 01:50:08,920 Oh. My. 1993 01:50:09,160 --> 01:50:10,440 God, did I take it away? Sorry, sorry. 1994 01:50:11,160 --> 01:50:13,080 So we'll, we'll go to US and buy. 1995 01:50:13,520 --> 01:50:17,640 What do you see is what is your wish list for world cricket? 1996 01:50:18,480 --> 01:50:21,960 You know, if you could have one. Wish list for world cricket. 1997 01:50:22,640 --> 01:50:27,360 I mean, the only wish wish in my list would be, you know, let it 1998 01:50:27,360 --> 01:50:29,040 be world cricket. That's all. 1999 01:50:29,960 --> 01:50:31,840 As simple as that. Yeah. 2000 01:50:32,600 --> 01:50:37,440 No, I mean, just to just to reiterate, I mean, what has 2001 01:50:37,440 --> 01:50:40,080 happened to Bangladesh this time is extremely unfair. 2002 01:50:40,080 --> 01:50:44,800 I mean, our most famous sports writer, Shankar knows him very 2003 01:50:44,800 --> 01:50:46,600 well for sure. But I think he wrote recently 2004 01:50:46,600 --> 01:50:50,240 that it has been 30 years since Bangladesh has sat at home and 2005 01:50:50,240 --> 01:50:52,520 seen a World Cup. So they haven't really missed a 2006 01:50:52,520 --> 01:50:53,800 lot of World Cups. They don't really. 2007 01:50:53,800 --> 01:50:58,280 I mean, they've really worked hard for it from 79 to 97. 2008 01:50:58,280 --> 01:51:00,200 They've played all these ICC trophy tournaments. 2009 01:51:00,200 --> 01:51:03,080 There was lots of heart breaks and they're finally made it in 2010 01:51:03,080 --> 01:51:05,280 97. I mean, they were the story. 2011 01:51:05,280 --> 01:51:07,840 I mean, whatever happened afterwards with the Test status 2012 01:51:07,840 --> 01:51:10,080 and how they played in Test cricket, that's that's a 2013 01:51:10,080 --> 01:51:11,240 different that's a different angle. 2014 01:51:11,240 --> 01:51:15,880 But I think from a participation point of view, the way they were 2015 01:51:15,880 --> 01:51:19,080 treated, I think it was, you know, unmatched. 2016 01:51:19,120 --> 01:51:23,880 So Amber by mentioned a couple of times how the two approaches 2017 01:51:23,880 --> 01:51:25,880 were different from the from the ICC. 2018 01:51:25,880 --> 01:51:28,520 And I mean, you're talking about the wish list. 2019 01:51:28,560 --> 01:51:32,480 Let it let this be a global game and let the ICC have a backbone 2020 01:51:32,480 --> 01:51:34,960 for a changeable. I don't know how different it 2021 01:51:34,960 --> 01:51:37,360 is. How different is the IC CS 2022 01:51:37,360 --> 01:51:40,040 constitution from the from FIFA? I'm sure it's very different. 2023 01:51:40,400 --> 01:51:42,800 But the way FIFA deals with things that I've seen it with 2024 01:51:43,240 --> 01:51:46,120 about a Football Federation a number of occasions, you know, 2025 01:51:46,520 --> 01:51:51,200 FIFA deals with these, even these small federations with, 2026 01:51:51,880 --> 01:51:53,760 with a lot of fairness, I would say. 2027 01:51:53,760 --> 01:51:57,120 I mean, if there is some, if something goes wrong, you know, 2028 01:51:57,120 --> 01:52:00,160 they're stepping and if money is required to pour the money too. 2029 01:52:00,600 --> 01:52:04,920 So, you know, I, I, I wish it's a world, it's a, it's a global 2030 01:52:04,920 --> 01:52:08,200 game. I wish that this global game is 2031 01:52:08,200 --> 01:52:11,000 also run with some amount of, you know, equality. 2032 01:52:11,000 --> 01:52:13,960 Yeah. Well said. 2033 01:52:13,960 --> 01:52:16,080 And I'm going to take this to you, Shada as well. 2034 01:52:16,080 --> 01:52:18,320 What is your wish list for world cricket? 2035 01:52:18,320 --> 01:52:22,120 Because it's often like it needs a lot of work for conservation, 2036 01:52:22,120 --> 01:52:25,600 quite like the giant panda. You know, they're determined if 2037 01:52:25,600 --> 01:52:28,360 you, if you don't take care of them, they will become an 2038 01:52:28,600 --> 01:52:31,000 endangered species. And they're quite close to it 2039 01:52:31,040 --> 01:52:35,560 so. No, I mean, I had a column for 2040 01:52:35,680 --> 01:52:38,680 sometimes about sort of by happy headlines for the rest of the 2041 01:52:38,680 --> 01:52:41,080 year because you've had such bad headlines for the whole of 2042 01:52:41,080 --> 01:52:43,760 January. And my one, my happy headline 2043 01:52:43,760 --> 01:52:47,440 was completely over to the top. And all I said it's basically 2044 01:52:47,920 --> 01:52:49,680 the women in cricket get their due. 2045 01:52:50,400 --> 01:52:53,640 All the men stand down. Women take over their office, 2046 01:52:54,440 --> 01:52:56,880 the executive office, the board office. 2047 01:52:56,880 --> 01:52:58,760 They run the game because they're just, I just feel 2048 01:52:58,760 --> 01:53:02,560 they'll run it better, you know, and they and they emailed the 2049 01:53:02,560 --> 01:53:05,440 Taliban to ask them that. Can you, are you OK? 2050 01:53:05,440 --> 01:53:08,520 Talk with us on e-mail. So I, I had something literally 2051 01:53:08,520 --> 01:53:11,720 like that, you know, so you just want and you know, and everyone 2052 01:53:11,720 --> 01:53:14,640 says, oh, you hate the BCCI, you hate the ICCI, don't hate these 2053 01:53:14,640 --> 01:53:16,360 bodies. I know that there are people in 2054 01:53:16,360 --> 01:53:19,480 those organizations that are doing really good work at the 2055 01:53:19,480 --> 01:53:22,560 bottom level, doing your World Cricket League, running all the 2056 01:53:22,960 --> 01:53:26,400 events and, you know, trying and get getting countries to come up 2057 01:53:26,400 --> 01:53:28,920 through the ranks and so on. It's just the decision making at 2058 01:53:28,920 --> 01:53:33,160 the top is so poor and it is so the, the, the quality of 2059 01:53:33,160 --> 01:53:34,680 leadership at the top is so poor. 2060 01:53:34,920 --> 01:53:38,040 My my wish for cricket is that it just finds itself by some 2061 01:53:38,160 --> 01:53:43,320 freak miracle good leaders across the board, You know, and 2062 01:53:43,320 --> 01:53:47,040 I and and and like, I mean, I, I could not improve on what Islam 2063 01:53:47,040 --> 01:53:51,040 has said that he's he's literally captured it for alpha, 2064 01:53:51,040 --> 01:53:56,160 that it just becomes a global game, a fair game, a just game. 2065 01:53:56,160 --> 01:53:58,600 And it doesn't you don't see things like this happening. 2066 01:53:58,600 --> 01:54:01,760 You know, you don't see, we've seen that everywhere in in 2067 01:54:01,760 --> 01:54:03,760 global sports. The people that have the money 2068 01:54:03,760 --> 01:54:05,400 are the ones that try to control the parlour. 2069 01:54:05,440 --> 01:54:09,200 UEFA will try it in in football and so on, but not like this, 2070 01:54:09,400 --> 01:54:12,560 not like this that you knock somebody off, you know, a 2071 01:54:12,560 --> 01:54:15,360 tournament where it is their their feeling right to play. 2072 01:54:16,880 --> 01:54:20,360 Yeah, I mean basically that just like it's that old men of straw 2073 01:54:20,360 --> 01:54:22,720 things we don't no more meno straw please. 2074 01:54:22,720 --> 01:54:23,840 That's my. That's my. 2075 01:54:24,560 --> 01:54:27,480 Wish list Emma, do you have a wish list? 2076 01:54:28,080 --> 01:54:30,360 Few of those. Shahrukh Khan character from the 2077 01:54:30,360 --> 01:54:34,920 90s should quickly look like. I was I was, I was thinking, I 2078 01:54:34,960 --> 01:54:38,640 mean, straight away Raju Bhanga gentleman, right? 2079 01:54:38,640 --> 01:54:43,120 Like that's Starbucks had already given us the the pathway 2080 01:54:43,120 --> 01:54:46,640 of how to be a good person. But I want to talk about, you 2081 01:54:47,160 --> 01:54:50,920 know, when I talk about my wish list, I just want to see 2082 01:54:50,920 --> 01:54:53,440 everyone play everyone, you know, And we've like, for 2083 01:54:53,440 --> 01:54:56,880 example, earlier last year, Bangladesh came to Pakistan and 2084 01:54:57,040 --> 01:55:00,040 actually played this amazing Test series, this swept 2085 01:55:00,040 --> 01:55:02,240 Pakistan. It should have been one of the 2086 01:55:02,240 --> 01:55:05,120 biggest stories of the year. And if we had a proper league 2087 01:55:05,120 --> 01:55:10,240 system, then we would have you know, and so I mean, this is 2088 01:55:10,240 --> 01:55:12,240 it's it's out. It's insane because actually 2089 01:55:12,240 --> 01:55:14,920 people don't even think in cricket, but we should have a 2090 01:55:14,920 --> 01:55:18,120 league like everybody else does, you know, like does it happen in 2091 01:55:18,120 --> 01:55:22,080 La Liga that real and bars are like, but how may do so it's a 2092 01:55:22,120 --> 01:55:27,400 piece match peeling or Bakijo Ghatiya team name like that is 2093 01:55:27,400 --> 01:55:31,800 the reality of cricket forever. And if you change it, just the 2094 01:55:31,800 --> 01:55:37,520 potential for exciting, amazing cricket that you see and you 2095 01:55:37,520 --> 01:55:40,920 know, Pakistan obviously being this amazing country that will 2096 01:55:40,920 --> 01:55:43,880 give everyone a chance. So you know that the league will 2097 01:55:43,880 --> 01:55:46,440 always be exciting. I would love to see something 2098 01:55:46,440 --> 01:55:50,520 like that, that cricket is a proper cricket basically. 2099 01:55:53,400 --> 01:55:55,400 I would love for the sport to grow up. 2100 01:55:57,680 --> 01:56:02,040 So to try to end on a slightly happier note, are there any 2101 01:56:02,040 --> 01:56:04,840 associate nations that you're looking forward to viewing at 2102 01:56:04,840 --> 01:56:07,400 this World Cup? Because, you know, we've already 2103 01:56:07,400 --> 01:56:09,320 had two pretty good stories today. 2104 01:56:11,040 --> 01:56:15,360 Nepal, Nepal, Nepal. I want to see Nepal do well in 2105 01:56:15,360 --> 01:56:19,200 this World Cup because I think they deserve it. 2106 01:56:19,200 --> 01:56:23,000 They're, they're known as the what the heart attack boys or 2107 01:56:23,000 --> 01:56:25,040 something. It's, it's amazing, It's an 2108 01:56:25,040 --> 01:56:27,720 amazing stories. It's an amazing story of a 2109 01:56:27,720 --> 01:56:30,880 cricket team that no one ever paid attention to. 2110 01:56:30,880 --> 01:56:32,560 And now they're, you know, pulling their way. 2111 01:56:32,560 --> 01:56:34,600 So of course for me it will be Nepal. 2112 01:56:35,520 --> 01:56:39,320 Italy. I'm going to Italy just because 2113 01:56:39,320 --> 01:56:41,840 I've watched so much Italian football and I have like, I'm a 2114 01:56:41,840 --> 01:56:45,960 Brazil fan, but I I love the Italy team and they haven't been 2115 01:56:45,960 --> 01:56:48,200 making it to the football World Cup for the last many years. 2116 01:56:49,600 --> 01:56:53,520 Soccering, Yeah. Incredible 22,006 May they won. 2117 01:56:53,520 --> 01:56:54,960 After that, I think they played one World Cup. 2118 01:56:55,480 --> 01:56:58,640 Ridiculous. So yeah, I'm looking forward to 2119 01:56:58,640 --> 01:57:00,280 Italy. It's the JJ smartest thing is 2120 01:57:00,280 --> 01:57:02,120 insane. He's never been to Italy and 2121 01:57:02,120 --> 01:57:06,560 he's he's the he's the captain. But yeah, I think 3 of the games 2122 01:57:06,560 --> 01:57:08,200 are in Calcutta. So hopefully I'll give a go to 2123 01:57:08,200 --> 01:57:09,720 Calcutta. We'll catch one of the games. 2124 01:57:11,320 --> 01:57:13,720 Hoping they'll do well, hoping they'll they'll push the teams. 2125 01:57:16,400 --> 01:57:17,960 I am, yes. OK. 2126 01:57:18,720 --> 01:57:22,880 I think one thing also, which can happen if you I don't know 2127 01:57:22,880 --> 01:57:26,280 if any of you follow American sports, but like obviously it's 2128 01:57:26,280 --> 01:57:29,560 Hollywood is there as well. They're so good at making like 2129 01:57:29,560 --> 01:57:33,080 the cinematic kind of documentaries can do we care 2130 01:57:33,080 --> 01:57:35,880 about like their sports. And if you look at just, you 2131 01:57:35,880 --> 01:57:41,360 know, if I'm brought up Nepal, just go and look at footages of 2132 01:57:41,360 --> 01:57:44,320 the stadiums at Nepal when they're playing these qualifying 2133 01:57:44,320 --> 01:57:49,360 games, dude, like that kind of atmosphere, you, you cannot make 2134 01:57:49,360 --> 01:57:51,360 that up. You can't buy it, you know, And 2135 01:57:51,360 --> 01:57:54,840 that's something like, I don't know, Anurag Kashyap is like in 2136 01:57:55,040 --> 01:57:58,240 as is sent with like, OK, maybe not him, but someone younger, 2137 01:58:02,320 --> 01:58:05,240 but any of them is sent to the Nepal team and is documenting 2138 01:58:05,240 --> 01:58:09,280 everything that's happening. You'd have blockbuster cinema 2139 01:58:09,280 --> 01:58:11,680 come out of it. And and I, I say that basically, 2140 01:58:12,120 --> 01:58:14,360 you know, we all all know the big teams, but as you said, like 2141 01:58:14,360 --> 01:58:17,400 the associate team, if you just follow their journeys and the 2142 01:58:17,400 --> 01:58:19,720 stories, all the individual players and what they've done to 2143 01:58:19,720 --> 01:58:22,040 get where they are. And you know, the kind of 2144 01:58:22,080 --> 01:58:25,680 already on day one, the amazing performances, all of them have 2145 01:58:25,680 --> 01:58:28,280 given. That's such a great, great 2146 01:58:28,280 --> 01:58:30,600 narrative. That's such a great story. 2147 01:58:31,320 --> 01:58:34,000 You know Bollywood, please do something about it. 2148 01:58:35,120 --> 01:58:39,320 Yeah, my answer was also Nepal, because what I must said about 2149 01:58:39,320 --> 01:58:44,840 the stadiums like last last T20 World Cup we saw like this like 2150 01:58:44,840 --> 01:58:49,000 Nepal games come a hall was another level and they almost 2151 01:58:49,000 --> 01:58:51,680 pulled one off against South Africa, like it was just such a 2152 01:58:52,240 --> 01:58:55,360 heartbreak. I have to go with Mahaboob, 2153 01:58:55,480 --> 01:58:59,120 Yeah, because they've got Indians, Pakistani, Sri Lankans 2154 01:58:59,120 --> 01:59:01,360 playing together and Bangladeshi playing together. 2155 01:59:01,360 --> 01:59:02,760 Yeah. I mean, like, that thing better 2156 01:59:02,760 --> 01:59:04,560 than just either of those is fine for me. 2157 01:59:04,960 --> 01:59:08,040 Please, you know, in terms of this catch pass fighting. 2158 01:59:08,840 --> 01:59:11,200 If Pilcom was a cricket team. If Pilcom. 2159 01:59:11,280 --> 01:59:14,440 I was just going to say I hope no one from UAE plays without a 2160 01:59:14,440 --> 01:59:18,640 helmet this time. I hope they all wear helmet and 2161 01:59:18,760 --> 01:59:21,720 no hats, no floppy. Hat that is 30 year old 2162 01:59:21,720 --> 01:59:23,840 reference that's older. Than you, Sartre. 2163 01:59:23,840 --> 01:59:26,200 Yes, yes, I'm, I'm, I'm older than 30, man. 2164 01:59:26,200 --> 01:59:28,240 I was the 96 World Cup. Yes. 2165 01:59:28,960 --> 01:59:30,000 Amazing. What was his name? 2166 01:59:30,000 --> 01:59:31,600 Sultan Zahud. Zarani. 2167 01:59:32,800 --> 01:59:35,560 Zaranavani Yes, yes. Yes, Obie, Alan Donald Co. 2168 01:59:38,040 --> 01:59:39,360 Yeah, yeah. Any of those teams where the 2169 01:59:39,480 --> 01:59:41,360 where all the South Asians play together, please. 2170 01:59:41,360 --> 01:59:42,600 Yes. Nice. 2171 01:59:43,400 --> 01:59:45,920 Hello. So on that note, we'll wrap up 2172 01:59:45,920 --> 01:59:48,240 our podcast. Today has been a fantastic day. 2173 01:59:48,240 --> 01:59:51,240 It has been a red letter day for the PCIPCC iPod. 2174 01:59:51,720 --> 01:59:56,000 We have facilitated A coup by getting 3 illustrious 2175 01:59:56,320 --> 02:00:00,040 journalists, commentators, podcast hosts, writers. 2176 02:00:00,800 --> 02:00:04,960 It has been really great having all three of you on Mohammed, 2177 02:00:05,680 --> 02:00:07,480 Sharda and Emma. Thank you. 2178 02:00:07,480 --> 02:00:09,520 Thank. You Shantar, thank you. 2179 02:00:09,920 --> 02:00:11,960 Krishan. Thank you for coming. 2180 02:00:12,680 --> 02:00:14,200 Thank you thank you. I was just saying if the 2 2181 02:00:14,200 --> 02:00:17,400 missing windows were Osman and fiddle I was. 2182 02:00:17,600 --> 02:00:19,960 I was done for life. Like that's it. 2183 02:00:20,800 --> 02:00:21,680 Of. Course. 2184 02:00:23,280 --> 02:00:27,800 That that that would have been, what is it, three more teacher? 2185 02:00:29,120 --> 02:00:33,880 That Avengers that was assembly. For sure, sure, yeah, though. 2186 02:00:33,880 --> 02:00:39,120 But just a huge pleasure and also I think all the Indians on 2187 02:00:39,120 --> 02:00:44,440 this chat, I feel like you guys are really it it it appears are 2188 02:00:44,440 --> 02:00:47,120 like a really vanishing tiny minority. 2189 02:00:47,120 --> 02:00:49,680 But the fact that, you know, you're able to call out things 2190 02:00:49,680 --> 02:00:52,480 that the way they are. I you know, I think the rest of 2191 02:00:52,480 --> 02:00:55,960 the world owes a lot to voices like yourselves, primarily to 2192 02:00:55,960 --> 02:01:00,480 Sharda as well, who's, you know, I risking life and limit field 2193 02:01:00,480 --> 02:01:03,920 every time she speaks. So it's an honor to be part of 2194 02:01:03,920 --> 02:01:08,440 all of this conversation, and it's amazing to see that, you 2195 02:01:08,440 --> 02:01:11,040 know, we still have these linkages because of cricket, 2196 02:01:11,040 --> 02:01:13,360 regardless of what happens at the top. 2197 02:01:14,040 --> 02:01:15,280 Yeah, guys. Thanks a lot. 2198 02:01:16,800 --> 02:01:17,920 Thank you. Thank you so much. 2199 02:01:18,480 --> 02:01:20,000 Thanks, Emma. Thanks, Assam. 2200 02:01:23,160 --> 02:01:28,720 The prodigal son turn Messiah gets a second hundred in success 2201 02:01:28,720 --> 02:01:33,680 in romantic style. The whole of Bengal are on their 2202 02:01:33,680 --> 02:01:33,800 feet.