New Delhi: Amid growing chorus to boycott Pakistan in the upcoming cricket World Cup, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) which looks after the administration of the BCCI will take up the issue at its meeting on Friday, sources told CNN-News18.
India are scheduled to play Pakistan on June 16 at Old Trafford in the World Cup, but several current and former cricketers, and a section of politicians have called for a change in schedule following the deth of 40 CRPF jawans in the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
“The CoA will take up the matter of whether India should play Pakistan at ICC World Cup 2019 tomorrow,” a source said, adding that BCCI may write to the International Cricket Council, asking for Pakistan to be kept out of the tournament.
Many affiliated units of the BCCI have removed photos and portraits of Pakistani cricketers with one of the oldest units Cricket Club of India (CCI) covering a portrait of Pakistan PM Imran Khan. Punjab Cricket Associations (PCA) and Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) have also removed the pictures of Pakistani players since the Pulwama attack on February 14.
The BCCI has maintained that it would follow the government guidelines on bilateral cricket with Pakistan. The ICC, on its part, said that it does not foresee the World Cup schedule getting affected by the current turmoil.
The prominent voices that have called for a suspension of cricket ties are senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and pacer Mohammed Shami.
Bilateral cricket between the two countries has not been held since 2012. But the two nations have clashed regularly at global meets, the most recent of such face-offs being the Asia Cup games in the UAE last year.
The other fallout of the Pulwama terror attack was Pakistan being ousted from the shooting World Cup which gets underway in the national capital from Saturday. Pakistan's shooting federation has claimed that its marksmen were denied visas by India.
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