Ramiz Raja to speak to BCCI officials for a new tournament?

The India-Pakistan rivalry is probably one of the biggest rivalries in cricket. Fans eagerly wait for these two sides to clash in a tournament. Thus, any news pertaining to an India-Pakistan game excites them.

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According to a report by Samaa, Ramiz Raja is set to meet top BCCI officials during the scheduled board meeting of cricket's governing body in Dubai. This report further states that the meeting will play a big role in the future of both the cricketing nations. This meeting is scheduled to take place somewhere between April 7 and April 10.

In this meeting, the idea of a four-team T20 tournament is expected to be formally proposed by Raja as well. There have been a lot of speculations pertaining to this T20 tournament featuring India, Australia, England and Pakistan. This idea was initiated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman himself. Besides, any tournament where India and Pakistan play against each other always generates the hype.

According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, this T20 tournament is estimated to earn USD 650 million for all participants, as well as the apex body. This money will mainly be earned through the media and commercial rights, which will be distributed by the governing body of cricket. Yet, the detailed breakdown of the revenue is unclear as of now.

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Pakistan's cricket board aims at conducting this tournament during September-October. Every participant is expected to host this event on a rotational basis. An important point to be noted is that this period is when the English summer nears its end. Thus, it will be exciting to see if this tournament does go on to get a green signal.

However, a BCCI source felt that this tournament is unlikely to take place. The source pointed out the busy cricket calendar of India.

"Our Futures Tours & Programme (FTP) is packed. Also, the fact that there are a lot of factors and as of now, there is no change in the policy of playing them at events organized by cricket's governing body. Also, we don’t think the apex body will be ready to organize a four-nation, and Raja’s proposal will be turned down,” said a senior BCCI official, as quoted by Business Standard.