ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a meeting with British counterpart Elizabeth Truss has conveyed Islamabad’s disappointment over the English Cricket Board’s decision to cancel a Pakistan tour scheduled for the first half of October.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) earlier this month canceled both its men’s and women’s cricket tours to Pakistan. The decision came just days after New Zealand scrapped its tour to Pakistan moments before the start of the first one-day international in Rawalpindi, citing a specific threat to its cricket team. New Zealand did not share the details of the threat with Pakistan.
“This had not only caused financial loss to Pakistan Cricket Board but also deeply disappointed millions of cricket fans,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, quoting Qureshi as telling Truss.
Shunned by all after the deadly 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore, Pakistan has been trying to woo back top international teams.
England is scheduled to tour Pakistan for test and limited-overs matches late in 2022 and the British High Commissioner in Islamabad has said he “will redouble my efforts in advance of England’s Autumn 2022 tour.”
Pakistan faced financial loss, disappointment after England canceled cricket tour, FM tells UK counterpart
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Pakistan faced financial loss, disappointment after England canceled cricket tour, FM tells UK counterpart
- England and Wales Cricket Board earlier this month canceled both men’s and women’s cricket tours to Pakistan
- Decision came just days after New Zealand scrapped tour to Pakistan before start of first one-day international
Captain Agha reiterates Pakistan’s refusal to play India at the T20 World Cup
- India vs. Pakistan is usually the showpiece match in world tournaments, with the eyeballs on it rising into the hundreds of millions
- The boycott has caused an uproar and the International Cricket Council is trying to resolve the issue with the Pakistan Cricket Board
COLOMBO: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha has reiterated that his team will abide by his government’s ruling not to play India in the much-anticipated Twenty20 World Cup fixture next week.
India vs. Pakistan is usually the showpiece match in world tournaments — the eyeballs on it rise into the hundreds of millions. The boycott has caused an uproar and the International Cricket Council is trying to resolve the problem with the Pakistan Cricket Board.
At a captains’ media conference on Thursday, Agha repeated the team will follow its government’s advice.
“The India game is not in our control,” Agha said. “The government has decided and we respect that. Whatever they are saying we’ll do.
“We are playing three other (group) games and we are excited about that.”
Pakistan’s World Cup opener is against the Netherlands on Saturday in Colombo. It will play all of its games in co-host Sri Lanka. Namibia and the United States are also in the group. The India game is scheduled for Feb. 15 in Colombo.
In Mumbai, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said they were going to Colombo whether the match was on or not.
“(Our) mindset is pretty clear,” Yadav said. “We did not refuse to play them. The refusal came from them. ICC organized the fixture. BCCI and (Indian) government decided to play in neutral venue in coordination with ICC. Our flight to Colombo is booked. So we are going. We’ll see what happens later.”
The Pakistan government decision came after Bangladesh was kicked out of the World Cup by the ICC. Bangladesh refused to play in India for security reasons and wanted its games moved to Sri Lanka but the ICC dismissed those concerns.
Agha said he was saddened that Bangladesh wasn’t playing in the World Cup for the first time and asked Bangladeshi fans to back his team.
Pakistan has accused the ICC of double standards and not accommodating security concerns. India and Pakistan do not play in each other’s territory and meet in ICC tournaments only at neutral venues.
Their countries are embroiled in military and diplomatic tensions which have spilled into sports for more than a decade. Last year at the men’s Asian Cup and Women’s World Cup, the teams did not shake hands when they met.
