Sawt Falasteen - Champions Trophy tug of war shows India's 'stranglehold' on cricket

The 50-over tournament returns in February after an eight-year absence but India's longstanding refusal to tour arch-rival Pakistan forced the hosts to concede some of their duties.

India will instead play matches on neutral ground, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said Thursday following weeks of wrangling, a decision that reflects the ease with which India can force its will on the game.

Under the agreement, Pakistan will also play in upcoming ICC tournaments hosted by India in other countries, yet to be decided.

"Any market or industry overpoweringly dependent on a single competitor will be distorted accordingly," journalist and author Gideon Haigh of the Cricket Et Al website told AFP.

"The same applies to sport unless it has a strong independent governance," he added. "This, cricket obviously does not have."

This month Indian cricket boss Jay Shah took up his role as the latest chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) -- the third Indian to lead the global governing body in the past decade.

At 36 he is the youngest person ever to ever serve the role.

India's supremacy stems from the outsized revenues of its cricket board, flush with cash from its role as custodian of the most popular sport in the world's most populous country.

The Indian Premier League alone has generated billions in revenue since its inception in 2008, turning the country's cricket board into one of the richest governing bodies in sport.

"Jay Shah's move to the ICC entrenches India's stranglehold on the game," Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth told AFP.

"Everyone recognises their financial contribution to cricket, but it is important now that Shah exercises his latest position of power with responsibility, and ensures the sport as a whole is looked after."

Instead, Shah's ascension has coincided with the second instance of Pakistan being forced to partially renounce its hosting responsibilities in as many years.

A similar outcome followed a running dispute last year over the hosting of the 50-over Asia Cup, where India's refusal to play across the border forced drastic changes to the tournament months before it began.

Pakistan eventually had to abandon hosting rights to most of the matches, with India playing their fixtures in Sri Lanka, where they won the final.

- 'Limited ammunition' -

India and Pakistan have fought three wars against each other since they were carved out of the subcontinent's partition in 1947.

The intensity of their rivalry has often been reflected in cricket matters.

But relations have been especially frosty over the past decade since Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office.

Modi's chief political ally and right-hand man is India's powerful home minister Amit Shah -- the father of new ICC chief Jay Shah.

India have not played a bilateral series against Pakistan since Modi's election, officially on safety grounds given Pakistan's past history of militant attacks targeting the sport.

Pakistan paused hosting international cricket after a deadly attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, but resumed hosting in 2015.

Every top cricketing nation has since returned to tour the country -- except for India.

Any cricket match between India and Pakistan is among the most watched events on the global sporting calendar.

But the impasse means that both countries now only compete against each other in international tournaments, including during the ODI World Cup in India last year.

Unlike India, Pakistan crossed the border to play.

"In my opinion, ICC should withhold the hosting rights for both countries until these issues between them are resolved," former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif recently told Indian media.

"Why aren't India and Pakistan getting banned? Because ICC has a lot of stake on them."

As with the Asia Cup last year, India's refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy rankled the hosts, who fought the decision for weeks until they were forced to compromise.

But Pakistan has failed to find sympathy and support among other cricketing nations, including England and Australia, who would risk antagonising India.

"They're not going to waste their limited ammunition on a cause that does not directly impact them," Haigh said.

J.Saleh--SF-PST