Javed Miandad tells India to ‘go to hell’ amid Asia Cup 2023 controversy
Javed Miandad, a great batsman for Pakistan, told the Indian cricket board that it can “go to hell” because it won’t come to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.
In October of last year, Pakistani cricket officials hinted that they might not go to the World Cup in India next year. This was a day after Indian officials said they wouldn’t send a team to the Asia Cup in Pakistan in 2023.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah announced on their own that India won’t be going to Pakistan for the Asian event. He also said that the BCCI would want the tournament to be held in a neutral place.
Pakistan was surprised by his news, and officials there said it could “split” the cricket community around the world.
The PCB said that Shah’s comments “can affect Pakistan’s trip to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC events in India in the years 2024-2031.”
Miandad said that India can go to hell if they don’t want to tour Pakistan for the Asia Cup.
“I have always said that we don’t care if India doesn’t want to come. Let them go to hell. The cricket is coming. It’s the job of the ICC to keep these things in check, or else there’s no point to having a governing body,” Miandad told the media.
“Every country should follow the same rule at the ICC. No matter how strong these teams are, you should get rid of them if they don’t show up.
“They should play, so why don’t they?” They are afraid of what might happen.
“They wouldn’t play even in our time because they were afraid of what would happen. The people of India are mean. When India lost, they would burn houses, no matter who they were playing. “That’s what scares them.”
India and Pakistan are considered to have one of the best rivalries in sports, but they haven’t played each other on their home turf since 2012. Instead, they only play each other in international tournaments on neutral grounds.
At a meeting of its Executive Board next month, the ACC will decide for sure where the Asia Cup 2023 will be held.
Saturday, an emergency meeting of the ACC was held in Bahrain. Najam Sethi, who is the chairman of the PCB Management Committee, was also there. The fate of the Asia Cup was also talked about, but no decision was made.