On Calls To Stop India-Pakistan Games, BCCI Official Serves Reality Check: "Easy To Talk"
The Asia Cup culminated on September 28, with the Indian team not receiving the trophy after they decided not to take it from the ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Interior Minister of Pakistan.
- A BCCI official has reacted to the calls of reducing or stopping India-Pakistan cricket matches
- The suggestion was made by former England captain Michael Atherton, following the Asia Cup drama last month
- The BCCI official, who did not want to be named, said: "It's easy to talk about all this"
A BCCI official, on conditions of anonymity, has reacted to the calls of reducing or stopping India-Pakistan cricket matches, following the Asia Cup drama last month. The 8-team tournament culminated on September 28, with the Indian team not receiving the trophy after they decided not to take it from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Interior Minister of Pakistan. The Indian team had also refused to shake hands with their Pakistan counterparts, expressing solidarity with the Pahalgam terror attack victims.
India and Pakistan met three times during the tournament, including the final, with the Suryakumar Yadav-led side winning all the encounters.
Recently, former England captain Michael Atherton advised the International Cricket Council (ICC) not to have more India-Pakistan games till the issue is resolved.
'If cricket was once the vehicle for diplomacy, it is now, clearly, a proxy for broader tensions and for propaganda. There is little justification, in any case, for a serious sport to arrange tournament fixtures to suit its economic needs and now that the rivalry is being exploited in other ways, there is even less justification for it,' Atherton wrote in his column for The Times.
'For the next broadcast rights cycle, the fixture draw before ICC events should be transparent and if the two teams do not meet every time, so be it,' he added.
Reacting to Atherton's call, a BCCI official said that while it is easy to say that, there are no easy solutions to this issue.
'It's easy to talk about all this, but will sponsors and broadcasters agree to it? In today's situation, if any major team, not just India, withdraws from a tournament, it will be difficult to attract sponsors,' the official told Dainik Jagran.
India and Pakistan only meet during multilateral tournaments like the World Cups, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, etc. The last bilateral series between the arch-rivals was played in 2013. Since 2013, both teams have faced each other in every ICC tournament.
India Cricket Team
Pakistan Cricket Team