No use for ICC and India can go to hell if they don't come for Asia Cup, lashes out Javed Miandad
Javed Miandad did not mince his words when talking about the Asia Cup and India's approach towards it later in the year, rubbishing the country's request to host the tournament elsewhere. He went on to slam the ICC for failing to place a check on India's demands while labelling them 'bad losers'.
The political tensions between India and Pakistan have again taken the limelight in the cricketing fraternity with two major tournaments scheduled to take place in the subcontinent in 2023. While India would play host to the marquee ICC ODI World Cup in October-November, their neighbours were awarded the preparatory Asia Cup tournament in September. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary and Asian Cricket Council President Jay Shah had announced the Men in Blue won't be travelling across the border for any cricketing affairs, thereby bringing up the possibility of moving the tournament elsewhere. The statement thus went on to incense many Pakistan fans and legends, including one of their greatest-ever batters Javed Miandad.
The 65-year-old harshly criticized both India and the International Cricket Council for their inability to fulfil their obligations before going as far as to say that the former are simply afraid of losing to superior teams.
“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. 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 hoga, apne liye hoga. Hmare liye nahi hai [They may be India for you but for us they are nobodies]," he was quoted saying by Indian Express.
“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,” Miandad added.
The precedent for shifting a tournament was already set in 2022 when Sri Lanka's financial and political crisis meant the Asia Cup was held in the United Arab Emirates instead even though the islanders retained hosting rights. It remains to be seen whether something similar would occur with regards to the upcoming edition.
“They are bad losers. The public there need to understand. Cricket is a sport. If you don’t play well, you deserve to lose. If I play well, I deserve to win. Rather you go into other things. What good is that? I say this to the ICC, if anyone does resort to such ways, ICC need to be strict. If you’re India, so what? If any country behaves this way, ICC need to take action. Such teams should be removed to learn a lesson,” Miandad concluded on the matter.
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