ICC World Cup 2019: CoA To Decide Today Whether India Should Play Pakistan

The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) will meet in New Delhi later today to a call on whether India should play Pakistan in the 2019 ICC World Cup in the wake of the recent Pulwama attack. CoA, however, have now got a new member in Lt General (retd) Ravindra Thodge, former Master General Ordnance (MGO) of the Indian Army.

Meanwhile, the recent Pulwama Terror attack has created a stir countrywide as a Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosives-laden car into a CRPF bus, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded. Following the incident, India have cut several ties with the neighbouring country, and there have been calls of boycotting Pakistan in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019.

As per reports in TOI, CoA has drafted a letter addressed to ICC chief Shashank Manohar, expressing concerns over playing against Pakistan. On Friday, the committee will convey its apprehensions to the external affairs ministry and the PMO and wait for advice before moving forward on whether or not to send the letter.

The draft of the letter demands a ban on Pakistan from participating in the World Cup, else India will recuse itself from the match with Pakistan on June 16. However, Lt General Thodge, who is based in Nagpur, will not be able to attend the CoA meeting at such short notice. But the other two CoA members will seek his views on the crucial matter.

While Harbhajan Singh raised the issue of boycotting the Pakistan match, many former cricketers have stood in the opposite line. They are of the view that it will be detrimental for India as they will lose two points which will hurt their chances of progressing the pinnacle tournament. Moreover, they also feel that it will be justice if they can thrash Pakistan and reduce their progress of going forward in the tournament.

India and Pakistan will meet each other on June 16 at Manchester.