Babar Azam-led Pakistan to be Treated Like Any Other Team at World Cup: India’s External Affairs Ministry

Ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, the Pakistan cricket team have received clearance from their government to travel across the border for the World Cup. India’s external affairs ministry has insisted that the Babar Azam-led unit will be treated like any of the other teams which will be travelling to India for the marquee tournament.

It had been reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were hoping to face off against India at some venue, and not at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad however the request was reportedly denied by the BCCI and ICC.

When quizzed about PCB seeking better security arrangements, spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry Arindam Bagchi said that the question should be directed at the organisers of the World Cup or the security team.

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“The Pakistan cricket team will be treated just like the cricket team of any other country participating in the ICC World Cup,” said Bagchi.

“Of course, we would hope that all necessary security will be provided not just to them but to all other participating teams,” he added.

“I hope that there is a good match and I hope this is not war as it seems to be made out to,” Bagchi said when asked about Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s reported comments that Islamabad does not mix sports with politics and that was the reason why it decided to send the team to the tournament and defeat India in India.

The much-awaited India-Pakistan clash would take place on October 14 in Ahmedabad.

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Asked about Bhutto Zardari’s reported claim that India decided to hold the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the virtual considering his visit to Goa to attend a ministerial meeting of the grouping, Bagchi said it would be certainly “presumptuous” of anyone to think that one factor or one person would have had a role to play in that.

India hosted the SCO summit on July 4 in the virtual mode.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were among those who joined the summit presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Ministry of External Affairs had said that the decision to hold the annual summit in the virtual format was taken considering a number of factors.

With PTI Inputs