Visakhapatnam: Virat Kohli, captain of men’s cricket team for test and T20, on Saturday said that he and his team will completely stand by whatever decision the government and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) take in regards to playing Pakistan in the World Cup 2019 in England. The team is currently here for the first T20 against Australia.
A rumour has been afloat for a while now that India might refuse to take part in the World Cup or at best forfeit any matches to be played against Pakistan. However, there has been no official announcement by the BCCI.
“Our sincere condolences to the families of CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in Pulwama attack. We stand by what the nation wants to do and what the BCCI decides to do. We will go by what the government and the Board decides, we will respect that,” Kohli said at the press conference in Vizag.
Kohli reiterated coach Ravi Shastri’s statement to a television channel where he had said that they will “accept whatever decision that the government takes.”
The Committee of Administrators, who run BCCI, decided on Friday against taking any stand on the World Cup clash against Pakistan but wrote to ICC to ‘sever ties’ with countries from where ‘terrorism emanates.’ CoA chief Vinod Rai had said. “We must sever ties with nations from which such terrorism emanates. We will express our concern on an appropriate forum.”
However, Sachin Tendulkar has backed India playing Pakistan, highlighting that forfeiting the match would entail Pakistan getting two points.
Ms Kalinga