After the Australian team’s withdrawal from ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh over safety and security fears and after they also scrapped a Test tour late last year to that country due to the threat of terrorism, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should also withdraw from ICC World T20 Cup in India.
The PCB along with boycotting the Cricket World Cup should ask the ICC to shift all of its matches from India to Sri Lanka, just like what happened during the World Cup 2011 when foreign teams refused to come to Pakistan and Pakistan had to play all of its matches of the World Cup 2011 in Sri Lanka.
At the moment, the security situation in India is not suitable for Pakistani cricket team or any Pakistani for that matter, and the recent Pathankot attacks have further heightened tensions. It is best to steer clear of the country and convince and lobby with other cricket boards to either postpone the World Twenty20 or shift it out of India.
In October last year, a meeting between Pakistan and India’s cricket boards officials was cancelled after Shiv Sena workers stormed the Mumbai office of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shahryar Khan and the head of the PCB’s executive committee Najam Sethi had arrived in India to hold talks with BCCI in a bid to finalise the India-Pakistan cricket series in December.
GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
Karachi
