My dear Jay Shah and the ICC,

I thought of writing to you even though you must be very busy preparing for the game between India and Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in Colombo tonight. That is because of all the fuss that preceded the game and how we here in Paradise seem to have played a role in ensuring the game was played.

For a while, it looked as if this World Cup will be all about boycotts and protests rather than cricket.  Probably partly upset at India playing host to their ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh asked to play all their games in Paradise. You said ‘no’ and promptly kicked Bangladesh out of the tournament.

Jay and the ICC, that simply wasn’t cricket, was it? Last year, India made an almost identical demand in the Champions Trophy being played in Pakistan, for all their games to be shifted to Dubai for ‘security reasons’. Instead of saying ‘no’ and kicking India out of that tournament, you allowed that.

While all the other teams travelled around Pakistan playing their various games, India didn’t set a foot out of one ground in Dubai. All the other teams came to them and played with them. It is no wonder they won the tournament too. It isn’t surprising that some call the ICC, the ‘Indian Cricket Council’! 

Pakistan then took up Bangladesh’s call and said they will not play India in Colombo. Given the form they are in, they are confident of making it to the next stage anyway. That came as a shock to you because it is that game that brings in the dollars to the ICC and to lose it would it be quite significant.

From your point of view, there is nothing wrong with what India does. India has an audience bigger than all the other cricket playing countries combined and therefore bring in the most revenue to the game. Its IPL sees more money changing hands than in any of the World Cups hosted by the ICC.

So, you probably think it is only right that India should decide what the ICC does. Then, we must all say ‘Yes, Sir’ and take the money that you dole out to us. And what better way of ensuring that this happens than having you, Jay, the son of one of India’s most powerful ministers, in charge of the ICC?

With all respect to you, Jay, you haven’t convinced us that there was no one better than you for your job in all the cricket playing countries. This is the problem when sons take up positions because of who their fathers are. Believe me, we have not one but two examples of how problematic this can be!

Still, all this may seem right to you, the only problem being that cricket is no longer be a ‘gentleman’s game’. Since big money came into the sport, it has been moving in that direction for some time now. We have seen that with our players too, more so since we won our only World Cup thirty years ago.

Boycotting games is not new to us. Also thirty years ago, Australia and the West Indies refused to play with us in Paradise, citing the Central Bank bomb blast a few months earlier. Shane Warne said, ‘a bomb can go off while shopping in Colombo’ and Kadir famously said ‘shopping is for sissies’!

In response, India and Pakistan got together to show solidarity with us. A team from both countries travelled to Colombo and played against us. Greats such as Sachin and Wasim played together. So, now that India and Pakistan are not talking to each other, there is nothing wrong in trying to help out.

That maybe a reason why we in Paradise wanted to play a role in getting tonight’s game underway. We are told Anura sahodaraya spoke to Pakistan’s PM for thirty minutes to convince him that his country should play with India. Maybe that was also a factor that convinced Pakistan to finally agree.

Anura sahodaraya must have been looking at all the revenue lost from tourists arriving for the game and the impact of that because we are scraping the bottom of our coffers here. He may have also been thinking of the credit he can get when it was once said he doesn’t have ‘international connections’.

We don’t know whether it was Anura sahodaraya who tilted the scales for the game to get underway.  Even if it were Anura sahodaraya who got India and Pakistan to the Premadasa tonight, Premadasa could never have got India and Pakistan to play: they wouldn’t have understood what he was saying!     

Still, it is good that India and Pakistan and playing tonight though it cannot hide the fact that the ICC is now the ‘Indian Cricket Council’ and cricket is not played on a level playing field anymore. I don’t think many in Paradise care about all this because we have given up on our cricketers a long time ago!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- Jay and the ICC, you may run world cricket and India may control you but there is one man who controls you. That is Shammi. Remember, he got you to suspend Paradise from the ICC, so he could stay in his job? With such men in charge, we can do anything except, of course, win our matches!