Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not sending their men’s team to the Asia Cup 2023. The former middle-order batsman said that Pakistan does not need India to survive and the ICC must take action against them .
After the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting this week, the BCCI has taken its stance further on the Indian team not traveling to Pakistan to play in this year’s Asia Cup.
The reason given by the Indian committee is that they will not get permission from the government authorities to travel to Pakistan, due to diplomatic tensions between the two.
Speaking at a recent public event, Miandad lashed out at India, saying teams must be disqualified if they do not tour and that he has always supported Pakistan.
He said:
“India can go to hell if they don’t want to come to Pakistan to play cricket. I have always supported Pakistan. And you know I don’t leave a backup India whenever there is a problem. But the thing is we have to look our part. And we have to fight for it .”
He added:
“We don’t care because we will host our cricket. This is the ICC’s job. If the ICC can’t control this, there is no use for the governing body. They need to implement similar rules for every team. If teams like these don’t come, they should be turned off.”
India have not toured Pakistan since 2008, while the two sides have not played in a bilateral series since 2012-13. The two subcontinental giants only face each other in the Asia Cups and ICC tournaments, with the Men in Blue holding the aces on them.
“It becomes a problem for them if they come here and lose to us” – Javed Miandad
Javed Miandad predicted that India will not play Pakistan as they are the superior side on the field and things will turn chaotic if the Men in Blue lose.
The 65-year-old said:
“Come and play. Why not? They run. It becomes a problem for them if they come here and lose to us. The public there can’t stand it. It’s always been like that. In our time they used to not play for the same reason. riots and fights happen. The crowd there is very nasty. You would see whenever India loses, to anybody, the crowd there burn down the houses. When we played, they had to face such troubles.”
India’s defeat by Babar Azam and co. in the T20 World Cup 2021 match in Dubai caused a major outrage, with seamer Mohammed Shami facing a backlash on religious grounds. It is also Pakistan’s only win to date over their arch-rivals in the World Cup.