Pakistan In World Cup 2023: Khalid Mahmood Blasts Government For Involvement In PCB Affairs
Former PCB chairman Khalid Mahmood has slammed the Pakistan government for forming a committee to decide the Pakistan Cricket Team’s stance on the ODI World Cup participation. The Babar Azam-led team is not certain to participate in the ODI World Cup owing to the BCCI’s decision to not play the Asia Cup in India.
Even though the PCB’s proposed hybrid model was accepted by the Asian Cricket Council, the call for Pakistan’s participation in the gala event will be taken by the Pakistan government.
Recently, Pakistan sports minister Ehsaan Mazari provided an update on the team’s participation in the World Cup and said since India did not tour Pakistan for the Asia Cup, Pakistan will also think about boycotting the ODI World Cup in India. However, Khalid Mahmood feels Pakistan’s stance on the World Cup is unfair and the formation of the committee is just a gimmick. Mahmood added that by forming a committee, PCB has moved away from its policy of mixing sports with politics.
“The interesting thing is that no representative of the main stakeholder, the Pakistan Cricket Board is on the committee.”
Khalid Mahmood
“While I agree that there is no justification for India not to tour Pakistan now but this is not the way things are done at the international level.”
“If you say that we are looking at security situation before deciding to send team to India, that makes sense, but to say openly that if India doesn’t come to Pakistan then we will also not send team to India for World Cup, is mixing both things, which we have never done.”
Khalid Mahmood Questions Pakistan’s Government’s Involvement In PCB’s Affairs
Mahmood also looked baffled by the government’s involvement in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s affairs. He cited the example of 1999 tour, when he was the PCB chairman, PCB sent their own team to assest the security conditions in India.
“When I was chairman in 1999, despite threats from India, we assessed the security situation for our team ourselves, by sending a delegation to India and advised the government we were willing to go to India.” He said the sensible thing to do now was to ensure the Pakistan team took part in the mega event or it could end up facing sanctions and also relations with other boards would be soured.
Mahmood also slammed Ehsaan Mazari for his statement on Pakistan’s visit to India for the World Cup.
“I expect Zaka Ashraf to face an uncomfortable situation, when he attends the ICC meetings later this week, because of the formation of this committee and the statement made by minister, Ahsan Mazari.”
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