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Former England captain turned cricket pundit Nasser Hussain said he supported Bangladesh’s stance of not travelling to India for the upcoming T20 World Cup and praised Pakistan for standing by Bangladesh.
Speaking with Mike Atherton on a Sky Sports podcast, Hussain said: “I actually quite like Bangladesh sticking to their guns. They stood up for their player, the Fizz. And I also quite like Pakistan — I know it’s political — but I like Pakistan sticking up for Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the 10th edition of the T20 World Cup, set to begin on February 7 in Sri Lanka and India, after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to send the team to India due to security concerns.
The issue stemmed from Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman being dropped by the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on January 3 on instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
That decision triggered a series of events that eventually led to Bangladesh being excluded from the marquee T20 event and Pakistan boycotting their group game against India on February 15 in support of Bangladesh.
According to Hussain, that was the only way Pakistan could hurt India or the ICC.
“At some stage, someone’s got to say, ‘enough with this politics. Can we just get back to playing cricket?’ Maybe it is a real crunch point, because the only way Pakistan can hurt the ICC or even India is with the money and the finances of that India-Pakistan game. That’s the only way,” Hussain added.
The English commentator also questioned whether the ICC would have taken a similar stance had India faced travel issues during a World Cup.
“The real question that only the ICC can answer — if it had been India, and in the future, if India, a month before a tournament say, ‘our government does not allow us to go and play in that country in a World Cup’, would the ICC have been so firm? And [would the ICC] say, ‘you know the rules; bad luck, we are knocking you out’? That is the quick question.
“All sides ask for is consistency. You have to treat Bangladesh the same as you treat Pakistan and India,” Hussain said.
Hussain also urged India — arguably the biggest cricketing powerhouse right now, with more financial muscle than any other side — to strike a more balanced approach.
“Now, India fans will say, ‘cry more, we have the money’. But with power comes responsibility. If you are constantly knocking out Bangladesh and Pakistan, their cricket diminishes. And hence those great games we have seen in the past between India and Pakistan or India and Bangladesh become one-sided, as they have done,” Hussain added.
– Input from The Daily Star was used in this article.
