Minister Fawad Hussain says India has to take the blame for Sri Lankan players refusal to play in Pakistan.
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Pakistan minister Fawad Hussain has been hitting the headlines for wrong reasons in India over a few days. While he divulged Chandraayan 2 as a waste of money, he has once again criticised India for their potential wrongdoings.
As many as ten Sri Lankan players have opted out of Pakistan tour, owing down to security reasons. Terrorism has played a huge part in the players’ decision.
Back in 2009, Sri Lankan players were attacked outside the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Most of them were injured as the driver drove the bus quickly to escape from potentially worse damage on the players. Immediately, the series was brought to an end and the visitors flew to Sri Lanka once again.
Since then, Pakistan has not played international cricket in their home nation. Rather, they have been forced to take over the United Arab Nations (UAE), which has been recognised as a safe place for the visitors.
After a decade, Sri Lanka agreed to take part in a series with Pakistan in Pakistan. The series is scheduled to kick off from September 27, but ten players have backed out of the tour already. Most of them were the victims in the Lahore attack.
ODI and T20 Skipper Lasith Malinga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Thisara Perera, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, and Dinesh Chandimal have refused to tour Pakistan.
Even though the Pakistanis are ready to give them ‘president-level’ security, players are not prepared to risk.
That might be the Sri Lankan’s reason, but Pakistan minister Fawad Hussain has tweeted that India have played a huge part in it. He divulged that players will be ousted from the Indian Premier League (IPL) should they represent their home nation in the tour of Pakistan.
Informed sports commentators told me that India threatened SL players that they ll be ousted from IPL if they don’t refuse Pak visit, this is really cheap tactic, jingoism from sports to space is something we must condemn, really cheap on the part of Indian sports authorities
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 10, 2019
What’s more hilarious is the likes of Dimuth Karunaratne, Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, and Dinesh Chandimal have not played IPL cricket on a consistent basis till date.
