The status quo over the participation of Pakistan’s men’s and women’s team in the ICC World Twenty20 (WT20) in India stays as is with Pakistan seeking written assurance for the guarantee of the teams and fans that will be travelling for the March 8 to April 3 tournament.
“If we pull out our team(s) from the World T20, then we will have to pay a penalty to the ICC,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shahryar Khan had said a few days back, and by dragging the security fears too far despite the shift of venue from Dharamsala to Kolkata, the PCB is slowly but surely moving towards a scenario where they might face sanctions.
Amid security fears raised by the visiting security team from Pakistan, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday moved the March 19 match from the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. However, the Pakistan government maintained that it won’t allow its teams to travel until they get a written assurance of security from the Indian government.
“We have conveyed to the PCB that we have done everything we could. If they don’t come even now, then we’ll be forced to consider legalities. BCCI is fulfilling its obligations as regards to conducting the World T20 successfully,” ICC CEO, Dave Richardson, had said while announcing the shift of venue to Kolkata.
Despite that, Pakistan have held up the departure of their teams, demanding assurance of security. “Anyone coming to India will be provided security. There is no doubt about it,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday regarding Pakistan’s security concerns.
Late last year, Cricket Australia too pulled out of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh citing security concerns. But no action has yet been taken against them. That means there is no precedent as such about the sanctions PCB may face.
The current situation arose ever since chief minister Virbhadra Singh of the ruling Congress government in Himachal Pradesh said that it would be difficult to provide security to the Pakistan team amid protests from the families of the war heroes and martyrs living in the region.
BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur, who also comes from the state of Himachal Pradesh, blamed the CM for politicising the issue and unnecessarily dragging sports into it, even when the Indian board too had opposed any bilateral ties with Pakistan. But this being an ICC event, Thakur reckoned that it must go ahead as scheduled.
And when the security team sent by Pakistan too raised concerns over the hosting of the high-voltage clash in Dharamsala, the ICC had no option left but to change the venue. However, if Pakistan still don’t travel, they are certain to face some sort of penalty.
According to a latest development, Pakistan daily Dawn has claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has assured of the team’s security in writing, a copy of which is with the PCB.
“We have sent a copy of the notice to the Interior Ministry, seeking approval of the departure of Pakistan’s men and women cricket teams to India,” a report on Dawn.com quoted a PCB official as saying.
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