Syed Mahmood Sharazi
The Asian Cricket Council assigned the hosting of the Asia Cup in 2023 to Pakistan few months ago, and now the head of the Asia Cricket Council and the secretary of the Indian Cricket Board, Jay Shah has made a “controversial” statement that India will not come for the next year’s Asia Cricket Cup which be held in Pakistan. He said that this tournament will be held at a neutral venue.
There is no doubt that whether it is the International Cricket Council or the Asia Cricket Council, there is Indian influence in these institutions.
In the past on the wish of the Indian Cricket Board, the Big Three group was formed in the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which India, Australia and England shared the distribution of global events and money. India is currently ruled by the BJP and the Secretary General of the BJP is Amit Shah, whose son Jay Shah is not only the current head of the Asian Cricket Council, but Jay Shah also holds the position of secretary in the Indian Cricket Board.
It is said that Jay Shah, who has shown his importance by making Roger Binny the president of BCCI.
The Cricket World Cup is to be held in India next year and Pakistan has also issued a statement in this regard.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has issued the following statement following the Asian Cricket Council President Mr Jay Shah’s remarks .
“The PCB has noted with surprise and disappointment yesterday’s comments made by the ACC President Mr Jay Shah with regards to shifting of next year’s Asia Cup to a neutral venue. The comments were made without any discussion or consultation with the Board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board (event host) and without any thoughts towards their long-term consequences and implications.”
Due to political tensions, the teams of Pakistan and India do not visit each other’s countries, but the two teams have faced each other in international and Asian tournaments. India last played against Pakistan in a bilateral series in 2005-06 under the leadership of Rahul Dravid and after that Asia Cup 2008 is the last event that Indian team came to Pakistan to play.
After the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, the doors of international cricket were closed on Pakistan, then like the rest of the teams in the world including Indian team stopped visiting Pakistan. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the tension between the two countries increased. However, during the tenure of Manmohan Singh, the tension was relatively reduced and in 2012-13, the Pakistan team went to India to play the ODI and T20 series.
However, after Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, relations between Pakistan and India could not return to normal and since then it has become impossible to hold bilateral series between the two countries.
The political tension between India and Pakistan has destroyed the sports but now the Indian Cricket Board should separate the sports and politics as the politics of both the countries have adversely affected the sports.
Fans in both countries want to see both teams play against each other in their respective countries.
But political tensions have gripped the sport, prompting the Indian Cricket Board to rethink its policy.
India’s Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has said that the country’s home ministry will decide on the departure of the Indian cricket team for the Asia Cup in Pakistan in 2023 because of security concerns in Pakistan.
If these concerns of India are tested on the test of truth, they seem to be false because the cricket teams of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, Australia and England have visited Pakistan and after T20 World Cup, New Zealand will also play a series in Pakistan.
In such a situation, refusing to come and play in Pakistan using security as an excuse does not beautify a big country like India!
— The writer is a senior journalist and Columnist. He believes that sports is life
