BCCI probes into ‘Justice for Kashmir’ banner: Board of Control for Cricket in India has raised the matter with the ICC.
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During the 44th match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 between Sri Lanka and India at Headingley, India defeated Sri Lanka by 7 wickets to end the league stage as the table-toppers.
On the back of a 189-run opening stand between Lokesh Rahul and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, India comfortably sealed a 265-run chase. Having scored his fifth ODI century in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 against Sri Lanka, Sharma became the first batsman to achieve the milestone in a World Cup.
BCCI probes into ‘Justice for Kashmir’ banner
An infamous incident which happened during the Sri Lankan innings was planes flying over Headingley stadiums carrying alongside banners of ‘Justice for Kashmir’ and ‘India Stop Genocide and Free Kashmir’. While sports and politics are two contrasting fields, such protests at a sporting venue was unexpected and uncalled for.
Citing the same, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) have raised the issue with the ICC (International Cricket Council) stating the incident to be “unacceptable” and “unfortunate”.
“This is completely unacceptable. We have written to the ICC, raising our concerns about what happened in Headingley. If this kind of incident is repeated in the semi-finals, it will be really unfortunate. Safety and security of our players is paramount,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying in an interview with PTI.
ICC issues official statement on the matter
ICC took no time in replying to BCCI’s concern. Expressing their disappointment at the same, ICC mentioned not condoning such messages during a Cricket World Cup.
“We are incredibly disappointed this has happened again. We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
“Throughout the tournament we have worked with local police forces around the country to prevent this type of protest occurring. After the previous incident [during Pakistan-Afghanistan match] we were assured by West Yorkshire Police there would not be repeat of this issue, so we are very dissatisfied it has happened again,” read ICC’s statement.
