New Delhi: In the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack last week, calls for boycotting Pakistan in all sporting events have reached a crescendo. Former cricketers have come forward and have vehemently stated that Indian cricket team should forfeit the game against Pakistan in the upcoming 50 overs Cricket World Cup to be played in England May-June, this year.
Senior and former cricketers like Harbhajan Singh, Saurav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir have said that losing out on two points by boycotting the game against Pakistan will not hinder much of India’s chances. However, they have not said what stand India should adopt if both the sides meet in a knockout stage both.
The BCCI is set to conduct a meeting either Friday or Saturday to decide on whether to write to the ICC to ban Pakistan from the World Cup over the terror attack. It will certainly be a useless venture as the ICC will not even consider taking such a step.
Boycotting Pakistan in the World Cup group game will also have certain ramifications according to sources in the BCCI. They said that ICC may be forced to take ‘punitive’ measures against the BCCI if India don’t field a team against Pakistan. “We should tread steps very carefully as the ICC then can also ban the BCCI,” a source said. “There is a lot of time left for the game, so we should not hurry,” the source added.
Agencies