"India can go to hell if they don’t want to come to Pakistan to play cricket"

Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has come down hard on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not sending their men's team for the 2023 Asia Cup. The former middle-order batter stated that Pakistan don't need India to survive and that the ICC must take action against them.

Following the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting this week, the BCCI made their stance even stronger on the Indian team not traveling to Pakistan to play in this year's Asia Cup.

The reason stated by the Indian board is that they won't receive clearance from the government authorities to travel to Pakistan, owing to the diplomatic tensions between the two.

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Speaking at a recent public event, Miandad hit out at India, stating that teams must be debarred if they don't tour and that he has always backed Pakistan.

He said:

"India can go to hell if they don’t want to come to Pakistan to play cricket. I’ve always backed Pakistan. And you know that I don’t leave spare India whenever an issue arises. But the thing is we need to look at our part. And we should fight for it."

He added:

"We don’t care because we are getting to host our cricket. This is ICC’s job. If ICC can’t control this there’s no use of the governing body. They need to implement similar rules for every team. If teams like these don’t come, they should be debarred."

India haven't toured Pakistan since 2008, while the two sides haven't played in a bilateral series since 2012-13. The two sub-continent giants lock horns only in Asia Cups and ICC events, with the Men in Blue holding the aces in those.

"For them, it becomes a trouble if they come here and lose to us" - Javed Miandad

Javed Miandad predicted that India don't play Pakistan as they are a superior side on the field and that things will become chaotic if the Men in Blue lose.

The 65-year-old stated:

"Come and play. Why don’t they? They run. For them it becomes a trouble if they come here and lose to us. The public there can’t stomach it. It’s always been the case. During our time, they used to not play because of the same reason. Riots and fighting take place there. The crowd there is very nasty. You would’ve seen whenever India loses, to anyone, the crowd there burns down houses. When we used to play, they had faced such troubles."

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India's ten-wicket loss to Babar Azam and co. in the 2021 T20 World Cup game in Dubai sparked massive outrage, with seamer Mohammed Shami facing backlash on religious grounds. It is also Pakistan's only win to date over their arch-rivals in the World Cups.