Islamabad, Pakistan – When Pakistan final hosted the Asia Cup in 2008, Imran Khan was a political novice, Narendra Modi was nonetheless banned from travelling to the United States, India’s cricket group was making its third go to to the nation in 5 years and the complete event was performed on Pakistani soil.

It was additionally the final time an Indian cricket group set foot in Pakistan.

Fast ahead 15 years as Pakistan will get set to face off in opposition to minnows Nepal on Wednesday on the Multan Cricket Stadium to open the sixteenth version of the regional cricket event, it is going to be the primary of simply 4 of the 13 Asia Cup matches that will likely be performed in “host” nation Pakistan.

Some Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officers say that even internet hosting 4 matches – three within the first stage of the event, one within the second – is nothing in need of miraculous, contemplating the obstacles Pakistan has confronted.

Pakistan was awarded Asia Cup internet hosting rights in 2021 by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). It would have been the primary main multilateral event to be hosted by the nation in years and urged proof of rising normalcy throughout the cricketing panorama as worldwide groups returned to the nation after the 2009 gun assault on the Sri Lankan cricket group in Lahore.

But the PCB was in for a shock when, exactly a year later, Jay Shah, secretary for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the president of the ACC, mentioned India wouldn’t journey to Pakistan for the event, citing “political tensions” between the 2 nations.

Shah, who can be the son of Amit Shah, India’s residence affairs minister and a key ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Modi, mentioned the event must be performed at a “neutral venue”.

Pakistan scrambled for a response, starting from a risk to boycott the event to numerous choices for a hybrid mannequin.

Ultimately, in June, the present mannequin of the event was agreed upon by all of the taking part nations: One match is to be performed in Multan and three in Lahore, and the remaining are to be hosted by Sri Lanka – together with at the very least one match between Pakistan and India and probably as many as three relying on the outcomes.

Pakistan additionally toyed with the thought of boycotting the Cricket World Cup, set to be hosted by India in October. However, this month, the Pakistani authorities granted permission for the group to take part within the showcase event.

To many observers, the choice to strip Pakistan of most of its internet hosting rights to placate India was one more instance of outsized affect wielded by India’s cricket board, unquestionably essentially the most highly effective in world cricket due to the nation’s billion-plus inhabitants and immense cricketing financial clout.

Saad Shafqat, a Karachi-based analyst and cricket author, believes “Indian hostility” in the direction of Pakistan is in charge for the state of affairs.

“Their board [often] refuses to play against us in bilateral games. They don’t include our players in the Indian Premier League [IPL],” Shafqat instructed Al Jazeera. “They are only able to do this because they have the biggest cricket market, and they dictate terms on a global level. Nobody wants to cross them.”

A supply on the PCB with direct data of negotiations over the internet hosting of the event mentioned it took an “incredible” quantity of diplomatic efforts to steer different ACC nations that Pakistan may even get a hybrid mannequin with 4 video games on its soil.

“Considering the influence India holds over the International Cricket Council as well as ACC nations, I cannot imagine any ACC country, apart from ours, being able to stand up to the BCCI. Nobody can afford to antagonise India,” the supply on the PCB mentioned.

India’s sway over cricket was turbocharged after the success of their home T20 event, the IPL, which has turn into one of the vital profitable sports activities event on the earth because it was launched in 2008. It was additionally the yr that the Mumbai assaults happened, after which India refused to play in Pakistan.

Despite attaining large success within the shortest format of the sport, Pakistani gamers have participated solely within the inaugural version of the event in 2008 and have been shunned since – though the BCCI and IPL officers have by no means acknowledged the existence of an official or unofficial ban on Pakistani gamers.

Veteran cricket analyst and author Sharda Ugra mentioned what the BCCI’s stance in the direction of Pakistan displays its “small-mindedness” and Shah being each BCCI secretary and ACC president is a battle of curiosity.

“The Indian cricket board is hurting Pakistan just because it can. Back in the 90s, Asian nations were a bloc and presented a united front, but things have unfortunately changed now. This is a classic bullying tactic,” the Bangalore-based Ugra instructed Al Jazeera.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif mentioned the PCB ought to have been ready for the BCCI’s refusal to play within the nation – as they’ve made clear India will solely play in Pakistan in occasions run by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the game’s international governing physique.

“We all knew that India were not going to travel for this tournament. However, with Pakistan scheduled to host the Champions Trophy, an ICC tournament in 2025, you will see them travelling here,” the previous wicketkeeper instructed Al Jazeera.

Latif added that, with few playing cards to play, Pakistan was left with no different selection however to go along with the hybrid mannequin and will take coronary heart from the truth that BCCI President Roger Binny and Vice President Rajiv Shukla have agreed to journey to Pakistan throughout the Asia Cup.

“That is a very big deal and should be appreciated and seen as a positive development between the two countries,” he mentioned.

Shafqat, who wrote a biography of Pakistan’s former captain Javed Miandad, mentioned Pakistan should settle for that it has a weak hand, however it may possibly nonetheless present the world what it has to supply throughout the 4 matches.

“We can show to everybody that we mean well. It is easy to get demoralised in such a situation, but this can also be a great motivator to do well on the ground and let it spur you on. I feel that this is what we will see by the Pakistan cricket team, not only in this Asia Cup but also the World Cup in October,” he mentioned.

In Islamabad, the place followers are typically completely satisfied to make day journeys to Lahore and Multan for cricket matches, there may be virtually little interest in the event and no advertising and marketing of it both within the streets or on TV.

Ugra mentioned politics is happening at the price of cricket.

“Do not treat cricket as the Line of Control,” she mentioned, referring to the 740km (460-mile) de facto border between the 2 nations via the disputed territory of Kashmir. “Do not make the sport a border conflict.”