Pakistan Geared Up Counter India Over World Cup Boycott At ICC Meeting

Ahead of the much-awaited ICC quarterly-meeting in Dubai this week, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has “prepared a counter” in case the BCCI decides to boycott the World Cup game. India and Pakistan are scheduled to take on each other on June 16 in the marquee clash. However, the game is now under dark cloud in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

In one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces, 44 CRPF personnels lost their lives on Febuary 14. Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-E-Mohammed took responsibility for the attack. In the wake of the attack, there has been a nationwide protest against Pakistan and cricket has not remained far behind. IMG-Reliance pulled out of its deal to produce television coverage of the ongoing Pakistan Super League worldwide.  Before that, DSport, which was broadcasting the game in India, had also stopped the coverage. In other show of protests, several cricketing bodies had removed the pictures of Pakistani players from their premises.

In the latest development, the BCCI wrote a letter to the ICC, asking the “cricketing community to sever ties with countries from which terrorism emanates”.

A concrete decision on the matter is likely to come out when the BCCI and PCB officials sit face-to-face in the upcoming meeting,  starting Wednesday. PCB Chairman, Ehsan Mani, MD Wasim Khan, and COO Subhan Ahmad are in Dubai to attend the various meetings and workshops.

The very important Executive Board meeting is scheduled on Friday and Saturday in which the Indian delegation is expected to push for discussion on a letter it has sent to the ICC asking member countries to oust any member country which supporters terrorism.

The PCB, on its part, is prepared to deal with the matter in case the BCCI decides to boycott them.

“Pakistan’s stance is that if India wants to give a walkover, it can’t do anything about it. But it will pose a question as to what happens if both countries again qualify to meet each other in the knockout stages,” the PCB official said.

The bilateral ties between the two countries is already suspended and looks set to deteriorate further. They last played a bilateral series in 2012 and since then have played only in ICC tournaments or the Asia Cup.