‘Abbey pareshaan karna bandh karo’ – Fans react as Pakistan Sports Minister says Pakistan’s 2023 ODI World Cup games should be held at neutral venue

India and Pakistan will square off against each other at the Narendra Modi Stadium on October 15.  As per the World Cup schedule which was drawn up Pakistan will play their matches at Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. The schedule came out later because of Pakistan’s stern opposition to not playing in Ahmedabad, but their request for a change of venue was not granted by the Indian Cricket Governing Body.

However, with the 2023 ODI World Cup yet to start, there is a chance that the Men in Green might not take part in the tournament. Pakistan opened a new can of worms when their Sports Minister Ehsaan Mazari said that the Men in Green will not come to the 2023 ODI World Cup if India does not come to the Asia Cup which will jointly be hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Pakistan will host four games while the remaining games will be held in Sri Lanka.

India brings politics into sports – Pakistan Sports Minister Ehsaan Mazari

“My personal opinion, since the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) comes under my ministry, is that if India demands to play their Asia Cup games at a neutral venue, we will also demand the same for our World Cup games in India.” Mazari said to the Indian Express. This statement is coming out a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif came up with a high-profile committee. Mazari also accused India of bringing politics into sports.

“India brings sports into politics. I don’t understand why the Indian government doesn’t want to send their cricket team here. Some time back a huge baseball contingent from India was in Islamabad to play. There was also the bridge team that had travelled to Pakistan. There were around 60-plus people, I was the chief guest of the event. They won here and left. Pakistan’s football, hockey and chess teams also travel to India,” Mazari added.

He also said that the foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will also be present in the high-profile committee. Mazari is also a part of the committee which has 11 ministers in it. The ministers will carefully deliberate amongst themselves and then give out their ideas to the Pakistan PM who is also the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) patron-in-chief.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:

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