India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket since long. However, they are often seen taking on each other in major ICC tournaments. Men in Blue led by Virat Kohli defeated Pakistan in the last edition of the World Cup and since then they haven’t contested on the field.
Ahead of the World Cup in England and Wales, the governing body of India cricket had urged the ICC to ban Pakistan from international arena following their support to terrorism.
The chief of CoA Vinod Rai has opened up on the entire matter.
“Now, India was slated to play Pakistan on June 16… There was a rhetoric built up over here that India should refuse to play with Pakistan. People were saying it, the media was reporting it. The media was not cooking it up. The media reports, picks up news from the ground,” Rai told Indian Express.
When he was asked about the letter to the ICC, he said: “If we don’t play Pakistan (in the World Cup), we lose one point, two points, and that doesn’t matter. But suppose Pakistan comes up in the semi-final and we withdraw. Isn’t that shooting yourself in the foot? We would be closing avenues for ourselves. Which, I thought, was an incorrect move. So I said, rather than shooting ourselves in the foot, let’s isolate them,” he added.
He further spoke about the cricketing ties between India and Pakistan.
“On playing Pakistan, I think there is a government policy…that you can play on neutral territory, and not on each other’s… We are very clear in our minds that on neutral territory we will play any country.”