Reiterating his stand on India’s total boycott of Pakistan, Gautam Gambhir said: “There can’t be conditional bans”.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event here on Monday, he underlined the fact that it was for the BCCI to decide whether to play Pakistan in the World Cup.
“All of us need to decide if sports is more important or lives. If India has to face the backlash of international sporting federations, I am all for it. If we have to face that, they should be absolutely ready to do that.”
He recalled how England decided not to travel to Zimbabwe in the 2003 World Cup and “gave those two points away” and added, “if BCCI decides India should not play Pakistan, there could be repercussions. The entire media and country should back the team as well.”
Bound by ICC agreement: Richardson
PTI adds from Karachi:
ICC CEO Dave Richardson said on Monday that he doesn’t see any threat to the India-Pakistan World Cup match, insisting that the two teams were bound by an ICC agreement.
“For ICC events, all teams have signed a members’ participation agreement which requires them to participate in all matches and (in case of) any unjustified non-compliance with that provision, the playing conditions will kick in and the points will be awarded accordingly (to the other team),” he said.
“The ICC’s motto is clear: don’t mix politics with sports.”
