Has the ICC made the right decision?

Looked at dispassionately, the arguments were in the PCB’s favour. The successful holding of the Asia Cup in June-July this year showed that Pakistan was fully equipped to do the job. All the teams that participated in that competition went away thoroughly satisfied and had no apprehensions of any sort.

The ICC security experts also had recommended in their report that the tournament should be allowed to go ahead in Pakistan. Cricket grounds have never been the target of terrorist violence in Pakistan and given the philosophy — if one can call it that — under which the militants operate, it is difficult to see why they should target a cricket match. The idea of catching the world’s attention through high profile strikes is simply not the way they operate.