I will stand with my country, says Kapil Dev on India-Pakistan World Cup 2019 clash

Kapil Dev is the latest cricketing stalwart to break his silence on the effect of Pulwama attack on the bilateral ties between India and Pakistan. The dastardly attack on a CRPF convoy by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-E-Mohammed had claimed the lives of 44 jawans.

Ever since then things have headed in the southward direction as far as the bilateral cricket relations are concerned. As a result of the protest in the country, there is a huge question mark over the marquee World Cup clash between India and Pakistan on June 16 in Manchester.

Several former players including Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh feel India should boycott Pakistan in the event as a mark of protest. On the other hand, the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Aakash Chopra and a few others think the team should go ahead and inflict a crushing defeat on the arch-rivals.

However, Kapil Dev has come up with a different opinion. While the World Cup-winning skipper stated that he would support the popular opinion, he did not quite reveal his stand on the matter. “The country’s stand is my stand. We should not hold much discussion regarding it. We will agree on whatever step the government takes,” Kapil told Times Now.

The legendary allrounder’s comment came just moments after the meeting of the BCCI and CoA officials on Friday. The officials met to discuss the matter and came up with some big decisions. The BCCI has written to the ICC, asking the “cricketing community to sever ties with countries from which terrorism emanates”.

CoA chief Vinod Rai also said that the final decision on whether to play against Pakistan in the World Cup would be taken after consulting the government of India.

No IPL opening ceremony

In another big decision, the BCCI has decided to not hold the traditional curtain-raiser of the IPL this season. Rai confirmed that there would be no opening ceremony this season and the budget allocated for the same would instead go to the families of the Pulwama martyrs.

“We’ll not have a regular IPL opening ceremony and the amount of the budget for the opening ceremony will be given to families of the victims of this terror attack,” Rai told the media.

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