Ahead of the BCCI-CoA (Committe of Administrators) scheduled meeting on Friday to decide whether India should play Pakistan in the 2019 ICC World Cup, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that he is in favour of the two nations playing.
He said that if India and Pak do not play in the World Cup it will be worst than surrender. Moreover, he reminded the nation that two countries played the World Cup even at the height of Kargil war in 1999 and India defeated the neighboring country.
There have been calls from several quarters within India to boycott the match to isolate Pakistan internationally in various areas including sports.
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Reminder: at the height of the 1999 Kargil War, India played Pakistan in the cricket World Cup, & won. To forfeit the match this year would not just cost two points: it would be worse than surrender, since it would be defeat without a fight. https://t.co/RDgn7VEB5r
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 22, 2019
. @ShashiTharoor : Reminder: at the height of the 1999 Kargil War, India played Pakistan in the cricket World Cup, & won. To forfeit the match this year would not just cost two points: it would be worse than surrender, since it would be defeat without a fight. pic.twitter.com/3Vx9ANJHcJ
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) February 22, 2019
Earlier on Thursday, many former and present cricketers, including Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Chetan Chauhan and Harbhajan Singh unequivocally condemned the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans on February 14 but said that pulling out of the clash against the green brigade will only result in India losing out vital points.
CoA which will pronounce its verdict on Friday, added an additional member – Lt General (retd) Ravindra Thodge, former Master General Ordnance (MGO) with the Indian Army on Thursday. However, Thodge would not be able to participate in the meeting on such short notice.
The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed former apex court judge Justice DK Jain as the first court-appointed ombudsman for the BCCI.