Amid chorus for cancelling India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match, BCCI says cannot back out of ICC event

By Asianet Newsable English | First Published Oct 18, 2021, 7:34 PM IST

Amid the national outrage over the killing of civilians in Kashmir, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has said that as far as playing against Pakistan is concerned, the cricket body will have to abide by the International Cricket Council norms.

Even though strongly condemning the killings in Kashmir, BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla said that the Board could not refuse to play Pakistan in an ICC tournament.

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India is scheduled to take on Pakistan on October 24 in their first group stage match of the T20 World Cup.

Shukla said that he cleared that in tournaments organised by the ICC, countries could not back out of pre-confirmed commitments.

There has been growing clamour within the country with regard to India playing Pakistan at a time when at least 11 civilians have been brutally killed in Kashmir and when at least nine soldiers have lost their lives in Poonch in an ongoing encounter against Pakistan-sponsored terrorists.

Even Rajiv Shukla's party colleague and former hockey player Pargat Singh sought the cancellation of the high-voltage match over the present situation along the border.

While some have termed it as an insult to the families of those who had lost their lives to acts of terrorism, others have sought to delink sports from politics.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh has said that there is a need to give another thought before playing Pakistan as it comes at a time when Hindus are being attacked in Jammu and Kashmir and relations between the countries are not good at the moment.

Meanwhile, Team India captain Virat Kohli has sought to play down the hype and controversy surrounding the opening encounter with Pakistan, saying that he saw the match as just another game of cricket.

To note, Pakistan has had a dismal record against India when it comes to ICC tournaments. Pakistan has won only winning 3 of the 17 matches played against India.

A similar situation was witnessed before the India-Pakistan match during the 2019 ODI World Cup when there were calls to cancel the match in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed. Despite the protests, however, the match was still played. India had then won the match emphatically by 89 runs.

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