I think that the UAE just wants to promote cricket in the country in the form of business. Not as something in which they can improve. They are making everything in a business model. So that they can generate good revenue in the future from it.
In Asia, especially in the subcontinent, cricket is very big. But it is not as big in the Middle East. Probably they are trying to be the one to actually make cricket popular in the Middle East. That is also going to give them a good amount of money if they are actually successful to do it. But they have to realize that their own population is not going to support the national team that they have if they do not have even a single native player.
If they promote it as a business model, then I am OK with it. But then, the business model should be legitimate. A lot of match fixing actually originates from GCC nations, especially the United Arab Emirates. Criminals such as Dawood Ibrahim have made some of the cities there, such as Sharjah and Dubai as hubs for this illegitimate activity. The ICC and BCCI tend to turn a blind eye, since Emirates Cricket Board is very rich and powerful. But all this should not come at the expenses of more deserving associate nations such as Nepal and Namibia.
I am not going to say much. I am only going to say one thing. If you were politically powerful, or if you actually have a lot of money, you can get away with a lot of things in this life. That is exactly what has been happening all around the world. I am not even saying that the ICC is 100% honest as well.
@DanWalker I won’t be surprised if they’re planning something on the lines of IPL because they know that cricket loving fan’s will travel to watch these matches hence they’re just testing the waters now and planning for something big in the long run. Furthermore I see nothing wrong in their business model as we’re coming from covid and war era and every country need’s more revenues hence I don’t think that we can criticise them on this particular topic.
We are not criticizing the business strategy. We are criticizing the lack of rules from the ICC about having 11 players from abroad playing in the “national team”. The UAE is definitely going to do business and they know how to make good revenue. And they are going to take every legal shortcut that they can.
