Asia Cup 2023 – IND vs PAK: Amid Asia Cup 2023 hosting drama, Shahid Afridi has stated that he will ask the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to “let cricket happen.” Former Pakistan skipper further claimed that India has a “very strong” cricket board. Hence BCCI should take “more responsibility” and work to normalise relations between the two cricketing nations.
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“I will request Modi sahab to let cricket happen between both countries,” Afridi made the statement while on the sidelines of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) match in Qatar.
Afridi said when asked if he thought the PCB (the Pakistan Cricket Board) was weak, “I would not say weak, but some answers came from the front (BCCI) as well”.
Cricket, in Afridi’s opinion, is the best form of diplomacy, and both teams should support one another. He still gets along well with the Indian players. The Pakistan great received a bat recently from former India star Suresh Raina.
“I still have friends in the Indian team when we meet, we discuss, the other day I met Raina and I asked for a bat, he gave me a bat,” he says.
Afridi insisted on “spreading the love” throughout a protracted conversation. He noted that nobody ever demanded money from the Indian cricket players during the 2005 series.
The storied all-rounder said that Pakistan has no security issues because numerous foreign teams had recently travelled there without any problems.
“As far as the security concern in Pakistan is concerned, we had many international teams traveling here recently. We used to face security threats from India as well, but if permission is received from the government of both the countries then the tour will happen. If the tour doesn’t happen, we will give those people a chance. All they want is that there should be no cricket between them,” Afridi said.
India vs Pakistan should happen: Shahid Afridi
After the terrorist assault in Mumbai in 2008, bilateral cricket matches between the two countries didn’t start up again; instead, the sides have only played each other in multi-nation tournaments. Afridi suggested regular discussions should happen between the two boards.
The Asia Cup will be staged at a neutral location; the Indian squad won’t be travelling to Pakistan to compete there, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the head of the Asian Cricket Council announced last year.
PCB opposed to this, claiming that ACC had not even informed them that the tournament would be held elsewhere and that the decision had been made without their input. Since then, if the hosting rights of Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023 get overruled, the PCB has threatened to boycott the 50-over World Cup that is set to be staged in India.
“The real thing is that we never discuss with each other. Communication is most important. Politicians do the same, they discuss. Nothing will be resolved until you sit among yourselves. It would have been better if India had come to Pakistan. We and our governments want better relations with each other,” Afridi said.
PCB Chairman Najam Sethi on Saturday said that support of other members of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will be important on the issue of hosting the Asian Cup but conceded that India, which wants the tournament to be held elsewhere, enjoys big clout in the continental body.
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