BCCI’s attitude is disappointing: Shaharyar

“Mr Najam Sethi has flown to Dubai”.

In the morning, around 70 Sena activists barged into the BCCI office shouting slogans and asking Manohar to stop the talks with PCB official.

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. “Officially, there is no meeting scheduled in New Delhi”.

“I think today the PCB officials have brought embarrassment for Pakistan and its cricket”. In fact, a few of these players behave as if they are the representatives of their Army against India!

Pakistani cricketing legends Wasim Akhtar and Shoaib Akhtar, commentating in the ongoing India-South Africa series, will also leave India ahead of fifth ODI in Mumbai due to looming security concerns.

File picture of Shaharyar Khan.

“I want to tell all peace makers in India that the Shiv Sena and Saamna has appreciated the efforts and the struggle carried by Malala against terrorism in Pakistan”. “I am still hopeful of a positive response”. The PCB chairman emphasised the need to keep politics away from cricket and called for cricket diplomacy.

Ashraf, who was PCB Chairman in 2012, also dismissed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two boards under which the PCB is trying to convince the Indian board to play a bilateral series in the UAE in December. “Any meeting with PCB will happen only at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai”. “These are the big concerns”, Misbah said, referring to the protests.

He further told the media that he has not been contacted by the Indian board officials even after 36 hours of Monday’s incident. They were willing to play the series in India if the BCCI had reservations with Ten Sports broadcasting the matches. The talks on the proposed bilateral series have now been rescheduled to be held in Delhi on Tuesday.

“There is no delay in issuing visas to Pakistanis citizens and our activities are continuing as per routine”, Indian High Commission spokesperson Balbir Singh said. “The Pakistan government will also assess the security situation in India before we decide our future course of action”, he maintained.

He said India-Pakistan series was in the interest of both the countries as its financial gains were huge for both of them adding, “If Pakistan declines play with India in ICC events, the BCCI would suffer more (financially) than the PCB”.