'To Hell with ICC Fine' - Paresh Rawal says Country Comes First, Not Cricket

Paresh Rawal, the veteran Bollywood actor, remains firm in his thoughts of India entirely boycotting Pakistan at the 2019 World Cup. In the wake of a deadly attack in Pulwama on February 14th (Thursday), many of the well-known faces have come up and protested against it; vouching for India to not face their arch-rivals at cricket’s showpiece event.

Since, Jaish-eh-Mohammad, a terrorist group claimed responsibility for the same and Pakstan’s PM, Imran Khan not showing any soft corner over the attack; Paresh Rawal, in his latest tweets, expressed urge of putting country ahead of cricket, at any cost.

To HELL PLAYING THE WORLD CUP – Paresh

On Twitter, the Bollywood actor stated if India loses two points then that’s fine. Further, even if India has to not play the mega event in the UK in their protest against Pulwama attack, then that’s okay too. Paresh Rawal said,

“To hell with ICC fine and to hell with loosing two points and if it comes to not playing World Cup TO HELL WITH IT ! Country comes first not cricket !”

To hell with ICC fine and to hell with loosing two points and if it comes to not playing World Cup TO HELL WITH IT ! Country comes first not cricket !

— Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) February 22, 2019

Sachin, Gavaskar, Kapil share different views

Contrary to what Mr Rawal had mentioned and also the same Sourav Ganguly opined in the past, a few of the stalwarts of the game have different demands. The list which includes Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and even Kapil Dev had voiced the same opinion – instead of boycotting Pakistan at the 2019 World Cup, India should face them and beat them.

Further, Gavaskar to India Today had said, forfeiting the match will grant two points to Pakistan which can help them advance into the semis of the tournament. Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, had said he would hate giving free points to Pakistan.

However, a concrete call on the same is yet to come out. As an ICC meeting scheduled for February 27th in Dubai, the matter of whether India-Pakistan match should go ahead will come up.

Meanwhile, of late, India captain, Virat Kohli and head coach, Ravi Shastri have shared a common thought – whatever the BCCI and the government will decide, the team will stick to the call.