The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shahryar Khan said on Wednesday that they could boycott the World Twenty20 in India next year if the security situation stays the same near the start of the event.
“Until and unless all the doors are closed, we cannot say what our stance is on the World Twenty20,” said Shahryar while talking to media on his return from India.
“But one things is for sure, if the security situation remains the same in India, then we surely take the security of our players in consideration first and contact the International Cricket Council about Pakistan’s participation in the event,” said Shahryar.
Shahryar said that Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) attitude towards him as their guests was not as welcoming as it should have been.
“What they did to me a guest was not at all good. No one called me to apologise for the incident or to inform me about rescheduling the meeting which was cancelled due to Shiv Sena’s protest,” he said.
“After the Shiv Sena protest I received a call from BCCI saying that the talks have been cancelled. After that, I kept waiting for the Indian board to call or send a message to me if they were going to reschedule the talks again but all the patience went in vain.”
Shahryar came back to Pakistan from his visit to India after the newly-elected president Shashank Manohar invitated him to the country for bilateral talks.
On Monday, the Hindu right-wing party Shiv Sena attacked the BCCI’s office in Mumbai demanding Shahryar to be sent back. The PCB chairman said he feared the revolt as he reconfirmed the venue from Shashank when he called him due to his absence in the ICC meetings.
“I asked him if he was sure that the meeting should be held in Mumbai. He said he was sure and added that after Sunday’s Indian board meeting, Shashank will meet Shahryar on Monday,” Shahryar explained.
Shahryar also showed the printed copy of the invitation to visit India from BCCI saying that he was called on to meet the board officials and he did not go there uninvited. He further clarified that he is not running after BCCI for a series, instead, he wants the cricketing relations between both the countries to prosper.
PHOTO: TWITTER
On the status of where the Pakistan-India series stands right now, Shahryar said that he had not lost all hope but the series was destined to be postponed as there were minimum chances of it happening after the events that happened in the last couple of days.
“Right now there is minimum hope in this series. But we have to wait for a proper negation from the BCCI. Then only, we will decide our future plans,” he said.
“If they do not reply within ten days, we will count it as a no and further plan our future endeavours.”
