PCB Talks to be Held in Delhi After Shiv Sena Protest

Slogans against Manohar were chanted along with “Pakistan Murdabad” and “Shahryar Khan Go Back”. Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena is protesting talks between India and Pakistan to hold the cricket series. “Let BCCI handle cricket affairs”, said Rajiv Shukla, the Indian Premier League chairman and a member of the Congress party.

Sena workers barged into the BCCI office holding anti-Pakistan placards and shouted slogans against PCB chief Shahryar Khan.

Shiv Sena blames Pakistan for militant attacks in India and is opposed to any engagement with it. “Nothing better than India and Pakistan playing each other”, said Zaheer, one of the finest batsmen to come out of his country.

Indian right-wing political party Shiv Sena is known for its hard stand and extremism over issues pertaining to Pakistan.

India have not played a bilateral Test series against Pakistan since 2007, though they did host them for two T20Is and three ODIs between December 2012 and January 2013.

Further, reacting to the incident, former PCB chairman Khalid Mehmood regretted the incident saying the Shiv Sena activists also resorted to acts of violence in the past.

Khan and PCB’s executive committee head Najam Sethi are in the city for the meeting after discussing the planned series with BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur earlier on the sidelines of the ICC meeting in Dubai.

The meet was originally scheduled to take place in the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. ICC CEO Dave Richardson also condemned the Shiv Sena attack. Game is different from politics and we have to play with every country.

Strongly denouncing the hatred and violent acts of Shiv Sena extremists against Pakistani personalities, renowned analysts say the recent acts have clearly exposed the ugly face and anti-Pakistan sentiments of Modi government.