By: Drcricket7 Staff
After the Shiv Sena party activists broke into the BCCI president Shashank Manohar’s office to protest against the India-Pakistan cricket talks on Monday, sources told Drcricket7 that Pakistan cricket team will be kept away from Mumbai during the 2016 World T20 Championship, which is scheduled to be held earlier next year.
Besides Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar, commentators Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar pulling out of ongoing India-South Africa series, Monday’s incident involving the Shiv Sena activists within the BCCI premises also ensured that Pakistan won’t be playing any of their 2016 World T20 match in Mumbai for security reasons.
As reported earlier by this website, Mumbai was in the fray to stage one of the semifinals of the ICC event. Now it’s emerging that Mumbai could also lose the 2016 World T20 semifinal game to avoid the knockout match involving Pakistan.
On behalf of the Pakistani cricketers, the ICC president and former Pakistani player Zaheer Abbas has already issued a threat to pull out of the World T20 event. He also said that the incident of Shiv Sena hampering the BCCI talks on Monday raised questions over the security of the World T20.
However, the board didn’t sound too worried about the security situation during the tournament. “We will keep the Pakistani match away from Mumbai. Even the World T20 matches involving Sri Lanka will be kept away from Chennai,” a top BCCI official said.
When asked about the future of India-Pakistan tour, another official, who didn’t wish to be named, made clear that cricket can only start if the Indian government gives a nod. Sources also said that the India board had given certain conditions to the PCB to resume ties.
Another source then insisted that it wasn’t the BCCI who was keen to hold talks with the PCB. “PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan only called the BCCI president Shashank Manohar and insisted to meet. If someone is calling him to meet then what can the BCCI boss do?” the source asked.
