Pakistan ridicules Thakur’s comments
Pakistan cricket community has ridiculed the statement given by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Anurag Thakur, saying even when ties between the two countries were better India had avoided playing Pakistan in a bilateral series.
Thakur, also a top-ranked leader of the ruling BJP in India, on Thursday said in a statement that there was no question of playing Pakistan in cricket.
“I just don’t understand what he wants to say. For the last eight years, India has avoided playing us in a proper bilateral series even when relations were better,” former captain Muhammad Yousuf said yesterday.
The Pakistan Cricket Board avoided making any official comments but a top official conceded to PTI that Thakur’s statement had caught them by surprise.
“It is an out and out political statement from the president of the BCCI. We are disappointed as we have been trying hard for a long time now to normalise cricket ties with India and we have always believed in keeping sports and politics apart,” the official said.
Yousuf, however, was adamant that the International Cricket Council should take notice of Thakur’s tirade.
“The ICC keeps on saying it will not tolerate politics or government interference in member boards and the BCCI president is making political statements. Either he speak as a BJP leader or BCCI head,” Yousuf said.
He lamented that whenever he played in India, the people there enjoyed the matches but unfortunately now there was no India-Pakistan series.
Former captain Rashid Latif said that Thakur’s statement carried no weight as already India had made it clear it didn’t want to play against Pakistan.
“The last time we went to India in 2012 as a goodwill gesture for a short series of one-day and T20 matches but since 2007 the Indian board has avoided playing us at a bilateral level.”