Sourav Ganguly backs Anurag Thakur over anti-terrorism issue

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has come out in full support of the BCCI president Anurag Thakur on his stand over the terrorism issue in what is the aftermath of the Uri attacks in the Kashmir region. Ganguly, who was named the Indian skipper during the torrid time of the Kargil War in 1999 mentioned that this sort of a thing had happened before.

With Pakistan promoting the terror attacks across the border, the Indian cricket board has stood firm about their stance not playing cricket against Pakistan until the insurgency stops. However, in spite of this, India and Pakistan have had very harmonious bilateral ties when it comes to playing cricket as well as the incidences on the cricket field.

“This has happened earlier also when cricket between the two countries was cancelled. And when all this keeps happening at the border it is not just difficult but also not right to have cricket between the two. We all want India-Pakistan to play cricket but if they want to play then they (Pakistan) have to stop all this cross-border terrorism.”

He backed Anurag Thakur and said that he felt that cricket could not continue in the backdrop of all the political unrest. “I know where Anurag is coming from. How can you have cricket in the backdrop of all this,” he said.

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The Pakistan cricket team made their way out to India to play a couple of Test matches in spite of the war going on a few miles north in Kargil. However, that did not have much impact as there was a series played in harmony. The result of this series was a 1-1 stalemate. However, the series will be remembered for Anil Kumble’s 10/74 in the second Test match in Delhi. He remains to be the only bowler to have achieved this feat thus far.

However, in spite of the standoff in the 2010s, India played Pakistan on several occasions including a few encounters in World T20s, World Cups, as well as the Asia Cup.