India-Pakistan T20 WC match shouldn’t be held because border situations are not ideal: Union Minister Giriraj Singh

The voices demanding the cancellation of India-Pakistan’s October 24 T20 World Cup clash are gathering pace, with Union Minister Giriraj Singh urging for a “reconsideration” of the contest in light of the hostile relation between the two bordering nations.

“I think the match should be reconsidered since the relations between India and Pakistan aren’t good,” Singh responded to a query if India-Pakistan match should be held despite the recent killings in Jammu and Kashmir.

Notably, owing to political tensions, India-Pakistan’s cricket rivalry has reduced to a mere ICC event rivalry, with their last bilateral face-off dating back to 2012. The last these two teams met was during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England when India clinched a rain-marred encounter to maintain their spotless streak against Pakistan in global events.

“India vs Pakistan match in T20 World Cup shouldn’t be held because the situation at the border isn’t ideal and both the countries are currently going through a stressful period. We have to guard humanity and not do anything that may end up putting further stress on the relationship between the two countries,” added Singh.

India and Pakistan are grouped together, and will kickstart their campaign facing each other. The hype around the contest can be understood easily by the fact that the tickets for clash were all sold within minutes of being made available online.

In a recent media interaction, Virat Kohli revealed how he has been denying his friends who have been asking him to provide match-tickets “left, right and center”.

“I have always approached this game as just another game of cricket. I know there’s a lot of hype created around this game, more so with ticket sales and the demands of tickets and right now, the value of those tickets are ridiculously high. That’s all I know,” Kohli said.

“My friends asking me whether there are tickets left, right and center, and me saying no. It’s probably the only change that I experience from any other game. Apart from that, we make anything extra out of this game.

“For us, it’s a game of cricket that has to be played in the right way, in the way we know we can. Yes, the environment is different on the outside from the fan’s perspective, it’s definitely louder, definitely more excitement in the air. But apart from that, from the players’ point of view, we stay as professional as we can and always approach this game in the most normal way possible,” he added.