ISLAMABAD: Legendary batsman and former skipper Javed Miandad on Tuesday lashed out at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), saying that instead of making efforts to make India a sport-loving nation, the BCCI is taking absurd dictations from the Indian government and adopting a ridiculous stance by asking the Pakistan government to initiate talks for resuming bilateral cricket series.
It is pertinent to mention here that BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur in a recent statement had said that Pakistani government should talk to its Indian counterpart for the resumption of Pakistan-India cricket series as it will greatly help in building a conducive atmosphere.
Miandad said it clearly shows how strongly the Indian government influences workings of the BCCI. “The BCCI is not a cricket board but a government’s board,” he said. “This attitude of India towards other cricketing nations is the beginning of their downfall and the day is not far when India would itself ask Pakistan for a series.”
Miandad asked that when Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan recently went to India on BCCI’s invitation for a meeting, what protocol or help the BCCI or the Indian government provided to him. “That shows that neither the BCCI nor the Indian government is sincere in resumption of the bilateral cricket series,” he said.
Miandad added that BCCI officials have got inflated egos now and their attitudes have changed after getting the status among the big three.
“Before big three the ICC used to issue a 10-year Future Tours Programme for all countries but now we don’t see that as it is the big three who decide what all other Boards should do, which is such a shame,” he lamented.
He pointed out that if the Ashes series can be played regularly without any ego issues affecting it, why not Indo-Pak series. “It is India which does not want it to happen because they are afraid of losing to Pakistan,” he said.
Miandad insisted that Pakistan must boycott the World Twenty20 in India next year.
“If respect really matters to the PCB, then it should not send the team to the World T20,” he emphasised. “It is a matter of our country’s prestige for which India has no regard.”
Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2015
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