Hashtag New Israel or The New Mossad. Quite a trend on social media. However, not about Gaza. About cricket. About BCCI after India’s victory in the Champions Trophy. Comparing the Indian Cricket Board’s grandstanding with Israel or Mossad. Whoever came up with the idea, it’s quite a thought.

What BCCI did, how it forced the entire cricket world to follow its own path, practically made Pakistan surrender – then comparing them with Israel, there can be no objection.

Netizens claim that BCCI conducted an operation just like Mossad conducted an operation. They said, they will not play in Pakistan. Pakistan was forced to accept it even though it was the host country. They had to come to Dubai and play against India. There was no representative of the Pakistan Cricket Board at the award ceremony after the final in Dubai. There, the cricket boss of Amirshahi thanked the BCCI. He did not even mention Pakistan’s name. The Pakistan Cricket Board expressed its anger after the trophy was handed over to India. It was alleged that India got an extra advantage because it played all the matches at the same venue. It was fun to see some cricketers from South Africa, Australia and England also joining the Pakistan Cricket Board’s tune.

Can we forget about the Champions Trophy in 2009? The host South Africa played all their matches at one venue. At Centurion. If they reached the final, that too would have been played at Centurion. But Australia won the tournament. See, the BCCI did not take the risk of sending a team to that country because of Pakistan’s track record. At the same time, it is also true that it is impossible for the ICC to even think of organizing a tournament without India. 55 percent of the ICC’s funds come from India. If the Champions Trophy had been held without India, their income would have decreased by more than 80 percent. Let me give you an example. Australia in the semi-finals, New Zealand in the final – India, these two matches have gone down in history. More than 150 million viewers watched the game. 900 million in the final, almost 690 million in the semi-finals. This record is not available anywhere except for a World Cup football final. In 2022, 250 million viewers watched the tense battle between Argentina and France in the World Cup final. That match was watched in more or less a hundred countries around the world. It should be remembered that in comparison, the audience of the Champions Trophy is spread only in this subcontinent and a handful of countries outside it.