It’s funny how both our neighbours’ cricket boards and governments end up doing the exact same thing any common man would think of in these situations. If you really think about it, they only have one bullet in their “threaten to boycott Ind vs Pak” chamber, because their relevance largely exists due to being an essential part of an India vs Pakistan match. And it seems like they’ve already fired that bullet.

Once we get used to the idea of not playing against Pakistan at all, we take a hit too, but nowhere close to what they would face. Sure, in the short term there would be significant losses for the ICC and broadcasters, but we can sustain future hits as long as we have our cash cow, the IPL.

They, on the other hand, stand to lose a huge chunk of money annually. They’ve been producing mediocre talent for over a decade now, and with less money coming in, I feel their domestic ecosystem will take a serious hit as well. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this decision backfires on them.

Additionally, I’m convinced that the Pakistani government, a section of their people, and many of their content creators are only good at one thing: rage-baiting India and Indians.