Published: Dec 04, 2015, 01:32 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 04, 2015, 01:36 PM (IST)
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur said India should recommence playing cricket with Pakistan in order to improve the relations with the country. Ever since the news has come up about probabilities of India playing Pakistan, the social media has expressed negatives about the bilateral in consider. Twitter, one of the most active platforms, had “#NoCricketWithPakistan” trending. However, Anurag Thakur feels it is not entirely what the nation feels about the series. He said that decisions like that can’t be taken considering social media reactions and must be given special importance looking at the circumstances, as it can better the political relationships with the neighbouring country which is not in a very good condition. READ: Anurag Thakur: BCCI has asked Government’s final clearance for Pakistan series
In an interview given to ‘The Indian Express’, Thakur said, “I think you have to take a call (on) whether there should not be any talks. Let other countries go to UN and let other boards go to ICC for decisions, but you have to decide if you want to engage with them. So I think you have to decide diplomatically what call to take. If you engage (with Pakistan), then you can raise the issue of terrorism as well as cricket as well as trade. But if you don’t engage, you give that opportunity to someone else.”
He also stressed on the fact how cricket helped reinstate relations with other neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“If you look at it, on one hand, you’re improving your relations with other countries, your visit to Bhutan, Nepal, the Foreign Minister’s visits to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In the last five years, if you look at our relations with our neighbours, they weren’t that good,” he stated. READ: Kirti Azad: India-Pakistan series being hosted in Sri Lanka or UAE very funny
He also mentioned that the pressure put on by social media has made things tougher.
“I think when it comes to Pakistan, it’s not that easy to take calls. And five years back, there was no role of social media. Today you see a lot of reaction from social media, but you still can’t say it’s the sense of the entire country. At times you can’t go only by social media; you have to look at the interests of the nation.”
“I think diplomatic relations are very important for any country and deciding whether you want to remain at loggerheads or actually sit across the table and discuss things. We have been discussing the issues of cricket, trade, terrorism and Kashmir with Pakistan”, he added.
Another fact that he pointed out is that India playing Pakistan a ‘bilateral’ hardly mattered as they already face each other in the ICC events which can’t be prevented.
“We play Pakistan in the World Cup. We played them in the 2015 World Cup, we’ll play them next year in the Asia Cup. Then we’ll again play them in the month of March in World T20. So when you play them in a multinational tournament in world events, then what stops you from playing them in a bilateral series. So that’s the question we have to answer,” he said.
