Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has made an insensitive remark on India’s reluctance to tour Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023. Miandad was recently asked about his views on India's refusal to travel to Pakistan over the 'security' concern on the Nadir Ali podcast.
The right-handed batsman replied: "Forget security. We believe that agar maut aani hai toh aani hai. Zindagi aur maut toh allah ke haath mein hai (If you're destined to die, you will die."
"Life and death is in the hands of the almighty). If they call us today, we will go. But they should return too. The thing is the last time we went, but they haven't come here since. It's their turn now."
Last year, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah said that India will not tour Pakistan for Asia Cup. In reply, PCB threatened to pull out of this year’s ODI World Cup which will be hosted in India.
There is a question mark over India’s participation in Asia Cup despite the hybrid model proposed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Najam Sethi under which India’s matches will be played at offshore venues.
As per ICC sources, on April 11 another report emerged where Pakistan will only play their World Cup matches in Kolkata and Chennai.
Recently, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh had expressed concerns over security of Indian players in Pakistan as he said, "India shouldn't travel to Pakistan as it isn't safe there and why are we taking risk of travelling when their own people do not feel secure in their country?"
Last month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take necessary steps to resume India vs Pakistan bilateral series.
“The leaders will have to sit together and take full responsibility because this is the solution. I would request Mr. Modi to improve the relations between India and Pakistan and arrange a match between the two teams,” Afridi had said in an exlcusive conversation with Sports Tak.
“It would have been a great thing if India had come here. India should take necessary steps for the best of cricket and Pakistan. We want the relations between the two countries to be better. This is not a period of fighting. In the past also we have played with each other with love. I remember when we came to India, people gave us a lot of love. If you remember the 2005 series, it was tremendous. Bhajji and Yuvi used to do shopping in Pakistan and no one used to take money from them. This is the beauty of both the countries,” the all-rounder recalled.
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