‘Pakistan Wouldn’t Travel To India If..’: Minister Threatens To Pull Out Of ODI World Cup

International

oi-Deepika S

Pakistan Sports Minister Ehsaan Mazari has threatened to pull out of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, if India insists on playing Asia Cup at a neutral venue.

The statement comes weeks after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced that the continental event will be jointly co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka after BCCI expressed its inability to send their team across the border citing denial of permission from the Indian government.

“My personal opinion, since the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) comes under my ministry, is that if India demands to play their Asia Cup games at a neutral venue, we would also demand the same for our World Cup games in India,” Mazari told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, a report in Pakistan media outlet Geo News stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had formed the committee to decide whether the country should send the national squad to India or not.Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was named the head of the panel.

Apart from Bilawal, the committee comprises Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister of Inter-Provincial Coordination Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari, chiefs of the national security institutions, and foreign secretary.

According to the schedule released by ICC on June 27, Pakistan are scheduled to play their first match on October 6 against Qualifier 1 and they will lock horns with arch-rival India on October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

India and Pakistan have not played against each other in any bilateral cricket series for over ten years, and face each other only at the ICC and ACC tournaments.

The current term of the Shehbaz Sharif government in Pakistan is set to expire in August and it is likely that any decision about the team’s visit to India would probably be postponed until the new administration enters office.