'Under ICC's international commitments, can't refuse to play against any team' - Rajeev Shukla amid voices of cancelling India-Pakistan T20 WC match

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajeev Shukla said India has to play Pakistan in the upcoming match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday (October 24) as no team under International Cricket Council (ICC) organized event has the right to not play against any team. Shukla’s comments come after the BCCI, and the government were having reservations to play the match against Pakistan after what transpired in Jammu Kashmir in the past few days.

It is a well-documented fact that there is political tension between India and Pakistan, but the situation turned even sour when some spate of targeted killings of civilians was witnessed, which predominantly included non-locals. This has not gone too well with most Indians as well as the BCCI. Shukla understood the gravity of the matter and said strict action should be taken against such terror organizations, but the match should be played since it is an ICC-organized event.

“We strongly condemn killings in (Jammu and Kashmir). Strict action should be taken against terror organisations. As far as the match (T20 WC IND vs PAK) is concerned, under ICC international commitments you can’t refuse to play against anyone. You’ve to play with teams in ICC tournaments,” Rajeev Shukla said according to Fancode.

India are set to face off against Pakistan on Sunday (October 24) at the Dubai International Stadium. This will be the sixth time the teams will meet in the ICC T20 World Cups, with India managing to beat their archrivals on all five occasions so far.

India start their WC campaign with a win over England in the warmup game

Meanwhile, India began their WC campaign with a bang as they managed to beat England by seven wickets in the warmup game. The team’s bench strength was visible for all to see as even without Rohit Sharma, India managed to chase a steep target of 189 with relative ease. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul managed to score 70 and 51 respectively.

The bowlers too did a good job, with Mohammed Shami picking up three wickets and Jasprit Bumrah managing to pick one wicket. The only cause of concern for the management will be the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who failed to pick a wicket and gave away 54 runs.