KARACHI: International Cricket Council’s (ICC) General Manager Strategic Comm­unications Claire Furlong has said that the Pakistan’s World Cup match with India is not under threat and is expected to go ahead as planned in June.

The match between the two neighbours had faced uncertainty as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a letter to the ICC on Friday urged the cricket community to sever ties with Pakistan over a recent attack on the Indian security forces in the Pulwama area of India-held Kashmir.

Commenting on the BCCI letter in an interview with DawnNews, Ms Furlong said: “There is no indication that any matches at the men’s Cricket World Cup will not go ahead as planned.

“Sport, in particular cricket, has the wonderful ability to bring people together and unite communities and we will work with our members going forward on this basis.”

However, she said, the ICC was “likely to discuss this at the ICC board meetings this week and we will be monitoring the situation with our members”.

Earlier reports emerged that the BCCI tried to get Pakistan banned from the tournament or refuse to play the June 16 fixture. However, when it appeared that there was no constitutional or contractual way for Pakistan to be kept away from the summer tournament, the Indian board wrote the letter to the ICC.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2019