South Asia Investor Review

Why did Pakistan's decision to boycott the India-Pakistan match in solidarity with Bangladesh in this year's T20 World Cup send shockwaves around the world? And why did it trigger the International Cricket Council's and other cricket boards' urgent efforts to persuade Pakistan to return to the match? The reason has a lot to do with its massive financial impact, estimated to be as much as $500 million in this tournament alone. The ICC projects an average annual revenue of roughly $600 million in the current cycle from 2024 to 2027. The international cricketing body calls India, England and Australia " The Big Three " in the current revenue sharing formula. The reality is that India and Pakistan are "The Big Two" in terms of their revenue contributions from ICC events.  The current dispute arose when the ICC, currently headed by the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, replaced Bangladesh by Scotland in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup a...

Pakistan cricket team has won all four of the group matches it has played so far in the T20 World Cup being played in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan currently sits on top of the points table with 8 points in Group 2.  Pakistan's only remaining match is with the team from Scotland which has lost all 3 matches it has played so far.  There is no doubt about the top talent in the Pakistani team but their performance at the T20 World Cup is extraordinary. So what accounts for it? What has changed recently within the team? Do Pakistanis have a chip on their shoulder and they are out to prove themselves? Are the new world-class coaches helping them?   Pakistan's Coches Mathew Hayden (L), Vernon Philander  One possible explanation is that Pakistanis have a chip on their soldier. They are out to prove themselves after having been shunned by teams like England, New Zealand and  India . Another more likely explanation that I find more appealing is the change of le...

Pakistan's 10-wicket triumph over India in their recent T20 World Cup match has made history. It's the country's first ever win against its neighbor in 13 World Cup matches. It is also historic because the Indian bowlers failed to take even a single Pakistani wicket.  Pakistani opening batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan romped to an easy 10-wicket victory by scoring 152 runs in 17.5 overs without any losses. Batting first, India lost 7 wickets to reach 151 runs total in 20 overs. Since this India-Pakistan encounter on October 24, 2021, Pakistan has gone on to win its second match against New Zealand by 5 wickets.  Babar Azam and Virat Kohli In a rare honest analysis seen on India's ZeeTV, the comments by retired Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif and sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi summed up the results as follows:  Mohammad Kaif:  "Shameful defeat for India"..."No amount of praise (for Pakistan) is enough"... "They (Pakistan) have done it w...

When the Indian national cricket team took to the field for its third ODI against Australia in Ranchi on March 8, 2019, they wore military caps to show support for the Indian military against Pakistan. This was an unprecedented act of politicization of international sports on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's watch in India. Pakistan born Usman T. Khawaja, Australia's opening batsman, responded to it with a maiden century that helped his team win by 32 runs after losing first two ODIs.  Khawaja then proceeded to score the series highest total score of 383 to help Australia win the remaining two ODIs and the series 3-2. Pakistan Born Usman Khawaja Batting for Australia Against India at Ranchi Usman Tariq Khawaja: Usman Tariq Khawaja, born in Islamabad, Pakistan, is the first Muslim member of the Australian national cricket team.  He currently represents Australia and Queensland. Khawaja made his first-class cricket debut for New South Wales in 2008 and played his first int...

Pakistan's national cricket team scored a historic win in Champions Trophy 2017 final against defending champions India on June 18th by the highest-ever margin of 180 runs in any ICC international tournament final. New players emerging from Pakistan Super League and the return of players like Mohammad Amir significantly strengthened the bottom-ranked Pakistan side to beat much higher-ranked teams, including India. Pakistan Team Celebrating Champions Trophy 2017 Victory Pakistan Team's Defiance: The Pakistan team that barely made the cut to play in Champions Trophy as the 8th ranked team lost its very first match against arch-rival India by 124 runs in group B on June 4, 2017. Subsequently,  the team to went on to defeat top ranked South Africa, 4th ranked England and 7th ranked Sri Lanka to reach the trophy's final match against India. Often described as "predictably unpredictable",  Pakistan XI bounced back strongly after being written off by most com...

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spends about $43 million on national and international cricket every year, according to  media reports . It receives about  $16.5 million a year  share from the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of the new revenue sharing model while the rest comes from Pakistan Super League (PSL) and multiple bilateral cricket series with other ICC member nations. PCB could earn significantly more if India, with its huge media market, agrees to honor its prior commitments to play bilateral series with Pakistan. PCB has  threatened to sue BCCI   to recover $200 million in lost revenue since 2007. ICC Revenue Sharing: Under a new deal announced by the International Cricket Club (ICC) after its recent board meeting in Dubai, Pakistan's PCB will receive $132 million from 2015 through 2023. India's BCCI will receive $293 million across the eight-year cycle, the ECB $143 million, Zimbabwe Cricket $94 million and the remaining seven Full Memb...

Pakistan will soon be starting its first professional sports league along the lines of for-profit sports leagues like Major League Baseball (MLB) or  National Football League (NFL)  in the United States.  India's  IPL (Indian Premier League)  was the first such league in the cricket world. It was started by India's Lalit Modi who studied professional sports business at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Several other countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the Caribbean nations (West Indies), followed suit with their own versions of premier league. Pakistan is the latest country to join this movement with its own league called PSL or Pakistan Super League. Pakistan is the 2nd largest cricket market after India in terms of viewership. It's the 4th largest market after India, England and Australia in revenue terms. The launch of Pakistan Super League (PSL) will help significantly increase cricketing revenu...

Australia, England and India , the three biggest revenue producing nations in the world of cricket, are seeking to remodel International Cricket Council (ICC) along the lines of the UN Security Council. They are making a naked bid to get more money and power for themselves at the expense of the cricket boards of the rest of the ICC member nations including Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan , South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. The "Big 3" Proposal: The proposals, written by the ICC's Finance, Commercial Affairs (FCA) committee and leaked to the media last week, calls for the formation of a four-person executive committee, on which the representative of boards of Australia, England and India would be guaranteed a seat. Only one representative from the rest of the cricketing nations combined would be selected by the three boards annually. Would this proposal, if adopted as is, strengthen the sport of cricket? Or would it spell doom for it? Its propo...

Music is aiding Coke in its fight against Pepsi in the cola wars in Pakistan. By sponsoring "Coke Studio," a local version of "MTV Unplugged", Coke has gained significant market share at Pepsi's expense, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal . While Coke now claims 35% of all cola sales in Pakistan, Pepsi's market share is now down to 65% from a high of 80% in 1990s which was achieved mainly through sponsorship of cricket in Pakistan . Coke Studio, sponsored by Coca Cola Pakistan, is a one-hour show that features musicians playing a distinct blend of fusion music that mixes traditional and modern styles. Helped by the media boom in Pakistan , the show has had dramatic success since it was launched three years ago. A Wall Street Journal story says that Coke Studio is now carried by 27 channels, including regional Sindhi- and Pushto-language channels, where entertainment tends to be more orthodox. The show’s Facebook page has about 200,000 fans and ...

Pakistanis are often characterized by stories of "individual excellence" and "collective failures" on the world stage. And there is some evidence to support such a characterization in Pakistan and abroad. However, the recent string of seven T20 international cricket wins, including the 2020 world championship , by Shahid Afridi's boys demonstrates the potential for collective success under competent and spirited leadership. Cricket in Pakistan is more than a national obsession; it is a metaphor for life. Pakistani cricket is endowed with tremendous raw talent. But the national team captains have often failed in translating it into significant success in major international events. The last time Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup was in 1992. The T20 cricket has been marked by much improved quality of Pakistani leadership recently. After the seventh straight 2020 win against New Zealand today in Dubai, the energized Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi gave credit to ...

While the Indian Navy is going after the pirates in the Gulf of Aden, two Indian youngsters are joining the Pirates in the United States. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel are two 20-year-old pitchers with million dollar arms. Neither had picked up a baseball until earlier this year. Both have now signed free-agent contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the prestigious five-times winners of the Major League Baseball World Series. They were the top finishers in “Million Dollar Arm,” an Indian reality TV show that searched for potential Major League Baseball talent in the country with millions playing cricket. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional sports contracts outside their country in a sport other than cricket. These contracts open up new and lucrative opportunities for South Asian cricketers beyond India's new cricket leagues . The faster of the pair, Patel has clocked at 91-92 mph pitching speed, significantly slower than Pakistan's Shoaib ...

International cricket megastars with large paychecks to match their egos, Bollywood's elite actors, big business magnates, provocatively dressed cheerleaders, the big sports media, huge worldwide audience, deep pocket sponsors all come together to put on spectacular three hour, 2020 games of the two newly formed Indian cricketing leagues. This is a revolution in the world of cricket, a sleepy, colonial era, gentleman's game that the British brought to their colonies including India and Pakistan. Taking a leaf from the sports leagues in US and Europe, it represents a coming of age for the business of sports in India. According to the New York Times, the Indian billionaires are for the first time staking their prestige on sports teams. The Indian Premier League’s most expensive franchise, at nearly $111.9 million, is the Mumbai Indians, fittingly owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. The flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya picked up the Bangalore-based Royal Challengers ...

As India's economy, business and industry experience rapid growth, large amounts of sponsorship dollars are flowing into the various sports including cricket, football and golf. At first, most of the attention was on the big cricket stars such as Sachin Tedulkar grossing million of dollars a year. Then came the Indian Cricket League(ICL) and Indian Premier League(IPL) drawing the biggest names in cricket such as Brian Lara and Inzimam-ul-Haq. The ICL tournaments covered by Zee Sports TV channel have been a great spectacle, comparable to the NFL and MLB games in the United States. Well, the money gusher is now starting to flood Indian golf with $2.5m purse for the Indian Masters golf tournament last February in Delhi. While a $2.5m purse is small and about the same as Qatar Masters, it represents a growth opportunity that has attracted the big names in golf including South African Ernie Els, Fijian Vijay Singh and Australian Adam Scott. "As these events draw richer and more-agg...

Super Bowl XLII As New England Patriots meet New York Giants for Super Bowl XLII tomorrow, there is the usual annual excitement among the football fans planning for Super Bowl parties around the country. In addition to being a great sporting event, Super Bowl has also become a gigantic commercial extravaganza for a whole range of businesses. For example, the media are the big beneficiaries of the multi-million dollar TV commercials by major consumer product giants. The consumer electronics stores sell a lot of large-screen high-definition TV sets and home theater systems. And the grocery giants attract a lot of spending just for this event. That's not all, even the furniture stores benefit from major furniture sales just prior to the event. In short, this event by itself creates a significant stimulus to the economy on an annual basis. TV Sales Last year, US retailers sold 61 percent more TVs the week before the Super Bowl compared with the previous week, according to NPD group in ...