Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 1: With the Pulwama attack still fresh in the memory, BCCI raised its apprehension about the safety and security of the Indian cricket team in the eve of the World Cup 2019 that is scheduled to start on 30th May. Though this topic was not a part of the original agenda, it was still included in the ICC’s Chief Executive Committee (CEC) meeting at the insistence of BCCI. The CEO of ICC, David Richardson guaranteed that there would tough security for the players and officials from India. He also emphasized that the security would be upgraded according to the intelligence report obtained from time to time.

Earlier some former cricketers like Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh had demanded the boycott of the match against Pakistan scheduled to be held in Old Trafford on 16th June. In fact former cricketers are divided in their opinions. Stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar believe that India should go ahead with the scheduled match and try to beat Pakistan. But BCCI so far is non-committal on that issue. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has made it clear that a decision on this issue would be take only after discussion with the Government. It is a matter of the foreign policy of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The CoA of BCCI appointed by the Supreme Court of India had sent a mail to the ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar, CEO Dave Richardson and England Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman Colin Graves demanding a tough security measure for the team. They also demanded that countries that support and shelter terrorism should be ostracized, without naming Pakistan. The issue was also discussed in the meeting held on 2nd March. Indian gave the example of South Africa which was banned from playing international cricket from 1970–1991 due to their apartheid policy.

Even though all the assurances were given regarding the security of the players, however, the later request was not entertained by the international governing body. ICC elaborated that this was not a matter to be handled by them as they have no right to break ties with another member nation. It was also stressed that the matter is solely diplomatic and as such should only be discussed at that level.