Should political parties be allowed to hold cricket hostage?

The World Cup T20 series began yesterday with the qualifying matches being played between Zimbabwe-Scotland and Hong Kong-Aghanistan. However, India’s clash with Pakistan has a cloud hovering over it as the Pakistan Cricket Board has delayed the departure of the team citing security concerns. We take a poll on what domestic cricket players feel on the political statements surrounding the upcoming India-Pakistan match.

The Pakistan team is not travelling to India yet, despite a shift of venue from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh to Eden Gardens, West Bengal as they are yet to hear “an iron-clad assurance” from the Central government of providing security to the visiting team. The Pakistan Cricket Board has raised security concerns as political parties (Shiv Sena, et al) have threatened to disrupt matches played by Pakistan.

With seven soldiers being killed in the recent Pathankot terror attacks, ties with Pakistan are at their usual testy best, but India and Pakistan matches are crowd pullers – for emotive reasons as well as the fact there seems to be retributive justice in beating our neighbours. The game between the two countries till date has always been played with a sportsman spirit and if one listens to the followers of the game, they hope that India will keep playing Pakistan – at home and abroad.