Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has denied making any statement on the Indian cricket team and on the scheduled ICC World Cup 2019 against Pakistan in the wake of the boycott calls that has arisen in India following the dastardly Pulwama attack last week. Based on an interview video on a Pakistan news channel, Akhtar had condemned the attack while reckoning that India have the right to pull out of World Cup owing to the incident.
A lot is being spoken in the slated World Cup clash on June 16 in Manchester. While veterans of Indian cricket, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly feel that India should boycott the match and end all ties with Pakistan, former Indian cricketer and a legend of the game, Sunil Gavaskar, expressed that India should face Pakistan and defeat them in the match.
Amid these came Akhtar’s quote where he talked about the attack, the World Cup game while criticising Indian cricketers for their words. But on Friday, Akhtar denied the words through a tweet.
“I completely deny the false news by Indian media about my statement on Indian cricket team / World Cup 2019. I did not make any statement at all and Indian media is making it up. I condemn the loss of lives. Both countries should come to the table to resolve the issues,” he tweeted.
Here’s what Akhtar had mentioned as per an interview video of his on Pakistan news channel…
“Honest reply, BCCI wants to play with Pakistan, the government says no. Had they played with Pakistan, Star Sports and BCCI would have earned the maximum revenue. The series would have a monetary value of 600 million dollars. Do you think they don’t? Of course, they want that. Now speaking on part of their argument, they want to play with Pakistan. Our Pakistan board had mentioned that they want to play a bilateral series and you cannot deny it although the series can be held at a different venue altogether. But they have said that they have a board to run which falls under Supreme Court. That is their argument and that is logical.
“Should sports stay political? Not at all. So these differences set in matters of circumstances. We strongly condemn the loss of lives. But when it comes to our country, we are one nation, united and we will stand by our Prime Minister’s statement without having a second thought,” Akhtar added. “They have a right to pull out. Their country was attacked and hence the decision. You cannot argue on that?
“Our forte is to talk about cricket and not about the political scene. When such things happen, try to create bridges as a cricketer. It is very important as players to talk about things that bring about unity rather than antagonising the situation.“
