The launch of the World Check Championship (WTC) by the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) to advertise Check cricket turned out to be an amazing transfer because the occasion attracted enormous viewership from everywhere in the world, and curiosity on this format of the sport was re-established amongst cricket fans.
Notably, the WTC is carried out in a two-year cycle, with groups from completely different nations competing within the event to amass the highest two spots. They may then lock horns within the last for the coveted Check mace.
The occasion commenced for the primary time in 2019 and has to date undergone two profitable cycles. Whereas New Zealand received the inaugural version of WTC, the latest WTC 2021-23 noticed Australia emerge victorious and carry the trophy by defeating India. In the meantime, the schedule for the third cycle of WTC (2023-25) has also been announced by the ICC. Nonetheless, former India opener turned cricket commentator Aakash Chopra is just not thrilled with the fixtures of the upcoming occasion.
Assessing the WTC 2023-25 schedule on his official YouTube channel, Aakash slammed ICC over no India-Pakistan match within the Championship. He additional acknowledged that one couldn’t even think about a world occasion with out the India versus Pakistan battle.
“You don’t play towards all groups. However that is WTC, it’s an ICC occasion. It has been 4 years now… are you able to think about an ICC occasion with out India vs Pakistan? This may by no means occur. It’s all the time firstly of the event so it will get off to an amazing begin commercially. It will get the best score and other people earn money,” mentioned Aakash.
“So, is WTC not an ICC occasion? It’s an ICC mace, they host the ultimate. So, all of the matches that happen within the cycle ought to be within the purview of the ICC. It is going to be 6 years, and also you didn’t have a single India-Pakistan sequence. That is additionally an ICC occasion. If it’s not, make it clear. Name it bilateral cricket and settle for that you’ve got made WTC simply to glamorize Exams,” he added.
It’s price mentioning that arch-rivals India and Pakistan haven’t performed any Check towards one another since 2007 on account of political stress between the 2 nations. The 2 sides have additionally not competed in any bilateral sequence after 2012-13 and solely face one another in ICC and ACC occasions.
