ICC Confirms The Reason Behind Zainab Abbas Abrupt Exit From India After Backlash Over Old 'Derogatory' Posts

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has issued a clarification on the controversy surrounding Pakistani sports presenter Zainab Abbas‘ abrupt exit from India. She was a part of the ongoing 2023 World Cup broadcast team before cutting short her stint and leaving India.

She attended Pakistan’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad last Friday (October 6). However, on Monday, the popular sports presenter left India from Hyderabad to Dubai, according to a report in the Times of India. Her abrupt exit coincided with recent reports that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was unhappy with India’s refusal to issue visas to Pakistani journalists and fans.

And as soon as Zainab Abbas left India on Monday, several media outlets reported that she was deported because of some derogatory posts about India in the past. Last week, a lawyer in Delhi had lodged a complaint, accusing her of targeting the Hindu faith in her derogatory posts.

ICC’s clarification on Zainab Abbas’ exit:

The ICC has denied reports that Zainab Abbas was deported and has stated that she left India due to “personal reasons”. According to Pakistani news outlet The Dawn, ICC official C. Rajshekhar Rao confirmed the development to Arab News. The BBC has also reported that she left India due to personal reasons and was not deported as claimed by a few media outlets.

Zainab Abbas has been working as a sports journalist and commentator for almost a decade now. In 2019, she became the first woman sports reporter and commentator from Pakistan to cover the ODI World Cup. And while she was set to cover the ongoing World Cup too, her arrival in India was met with a huge backlash on social media.

Delhi lawyer Vineet Jindal lodged a police complaint against her for some derogatory posts in the past. He accused her of posting “derogatory and provocative posts” mocking India and Hindu religion. He also highlighted a tweet from Abbas’s official X (formerly Twitter) account in which she wrote about Kashmir’s right to self-determination.