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Sport Nation
Ian Smith: Cricket in turmoil as politics collides with sport in India & Pakistan
Ian Smith • May 12th, 2025 2:00 pm
Photo: Photosport
Just as the political world keeps a very close eye on the India-Pakistan situation, so does the cricket world, as India, of course, is the hub, the powerful source of most things in cricket.
The IPL and the PSL are on hold, which are two of the bigger T20 leagues flying around, and the longer that situation remains, the less chance either will reach a conclusion this calendar year.
Players, particularly the overseas ones, have bailed to safer climates and who can blame them?
These two leagues are the lifeblood of so many. Not just the star players but the local contingent as well; umpires, commentators, the media in general, so many people. These are big paydays.
February and March next year, India co-host the T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka. And whilst that's some nine months away, there'll be some very anxious organisers and sponsors etc already.
India won't want to give up hosting rights, but we've just seen from the Champions Trophy in Pakistan what happens when one country doesn't want to go to another one, everything gets thrown out of the window. All sorts of draws and schedules have to be adjusted, so we'll just keep a very close eye on that.
Does the NRL really need expansion?
A cursory glance at the NRL points table reveals some pretty poor win-loss ratios for many teams.
Sure, it might be good for the competition - the interest, the unpredictability of so many games.
But the Storm aside at the weekend, who stamped any authority on their chances? And even they aren't leading the pack either.
There are some poor teams with some very average players, some shocking defences of leads, and very little pride, it seems, for their home patch.
And they're looking to expand the NRL? Maybe they should look to consolidate and up the class within the competition.
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