By: Tarish Bhatt
There were talks of India playing Pakistan in a bilateral series, but the recent Gurdaspur terror attack seems to have sabotaged any plans of a future series between the archrivals.
In an interview, BCCI secretory Anurag Thakur made it crystal clear that there would be no India series with Pakistan in the coming future if the neighbors didn’t stop terror activities.
The BCCI secretory Thakur didn’t make any diplomatic comments, when asked about the revival of India series with Pakistan, adding it’s about country as a whole, not only about cricket.
“I condemn the terror attacks in Gurdaspur. Cricket and terror cannot go hand in hand,” Anurag Thakur roared. “Pakistan needs to know that cricket can’t be played when the security and peace of our nation are affected.
“I understand that playing sport is a different thing, but our internal security is important. If you talk about cricket with Pakistan, we must understand that life of every Indian is very important to us.”
“As I see my responsibility as BCCI secretary, as a Parliamentarian, life of every Indian is very important to me,” he added. “It’s not only about cricket, it’s about my country.”
Anurag Thakur also pointed out a few differences between the BCCI and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), adding that they should also be resolved before moving forward.
“There are also certain issues between the two boards and they need to be resolved,” Thakur said. “We need to sort them out before playing cricket against Pakistan.”
“I met the PCB representatives during the ICC meetings in Barbados,” he added. “The BCCI is not against having dialogue, but the security of the country is paramount.”
The stand taken by the BCCI on India series with Pakistan should be highly appreciated, seeing the recent terror attack in the country.
Cricket might serve as a diplomatic solution to revive ties between the two nations, but Thakur has rightly pointed out the need of keeping interests of country over everything.
