Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 9: A day after the Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a committee to take a decision on his national team taking part in the ODI Cricket World Cup to be played in India later this year, his sports minister Ehsaan Mazari on Sunday reopened the old issue that was believed to had been settled.
Mazari said the Pakistani team would not travel to India to play in the World Cup if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) insisted on Indian team playing Asia Cup at a neutral venue.
For months, the debate over the venues Asia Cup and ODI World Cup has had the entire cricketing fraternity engulfed. After the hybrid format was agreed upon between the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Asian Cricket Council, Mazari’s statement reopening the issue gave a new twist to the saga.
“My personal opinion, since the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) comes under my ministry, is that if India demands to play their Asia Cup games at a neutral venue, we would also demand the same for our World Cup games in India,” he said. The Sports Minister’s statement confirmed that Pakistan wouldn’t travel to India if the BCCI plans to play Asia Cup at a neutral venue.
The statement from Mazari came just a day after Shehbaz Sharif formed a committee over the nation’s participation in the World Cup. “The committee will be headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and I am among the 11 ministers who are part of it. We will discuss the issue and give our recommendations to the PM, who is also the patron-in-chief of PCB. The PM will take the final decision,” Mazari said on the committee.
The minister also targeted the BCCI saying India’s reluctance to play cricket in Pakistan baffles him. “India brings sports into politics. I don’t understand why the Indian government doesn’t want to send their cricket team here. Some time back a huge baseball contingent from India was in Islamabad to play. There was also the bridge team that had travelled to Pakistan. There were around 60-plus people, I was the chief guest of the event. They won here and left. Pakistan’s football, hockey and chess teams also travel to India,” he said.
Speaking of the BCCI’s “security concern” with regards to the Indian team’s potential travel to Pakistan, Mazari cited the examples of other teams who have toured the country. “The New Zealand team was here, before that the England cricket team was in Pakistan. They got presidential security. Earlier, the Indian team was given a hearty welcome by the fans here. Security is an excuse. We also held the Pakistan Super League (PSL) that had so many foreign players,” he said.
The International Cricket Council had recently sent a ‘reminder’ to Pakistan about the agreement the PCB had signed over its participation in the ODI World Cup in India.
———————–