|| CF DESK ||

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that money has become a "big player" in cricket and countries like New Zealand and England wouldn't have dared to cancel their tours of India because they control the sport.

New Zealand had pulled out of the limited-overs tour on the day of the opening fixture in Rawalpindi, last month, citing a New Zealand government security alert.

Following that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also pulled out of a tour to Pakistan over security concerns.

In an interview with the Middle East Eye, Imran said, “England let itself down. I think that there is still this feeling in England that they do a great favour to play with countries like Pakistan. One of the reasons is that, obviously, the money,”

“Money is a big player now. For the players, as well as for the cricket boards. The money lies in India, so basically, India controls world cricket now. I mean, they do, whatever they say goes. No one would dare do that to India because they know that the sums involved, India can sort of produce much more money,” he added.

The former Pakistan captain said the decision was disappointing and pointed out that Pakistan toured England in July 2021 during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“They should ask themselves the question, what would they have thought if some country did that to them,” he said.