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Desperation much? Imran's minister tries to blame India as top Sri Lankan players pull out of Pakistan tour
Sri Lanka is set to visit Pakistan after nearly two years to play three ODIs and three T20I matches from September 27 to October 19.
DNA Web Team | Sep 10, 2019, 02:36 PM IST
1.'Cheap on the part of Indian sports authorities': Ch Fawad Chaudhry
Federal Minister for Science & Technology Government of Pakistan, Ch Fawad Hussain took to Twitter and wrote that the reason for Sri Lankan players pulling out of the tournament was related to India.
He tweeted, "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 a really cheap tactic, jingoism from sports to space is something we must condemn, really cheap on the part of Indian sports authorities".
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
Many of the Lakan players are part of various franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) like Malinga plays for Mumbai Indians (MI), while Thisara Perera, Kusal Janith Perera and other have also been part of the league.
2.Reason for players backing out?
Pakistan are looking to host their first Test on home soil as part of the World Test Championship. The Sri Lankan cricket board conducted a meeting with the players and they were given the freedom to decide on their participation in the tour.
"The meeting was aimed at informing the players about the security arrangements during the forthcoming tour and also to find out their 'decision' (either taking part or not) before... the selection of squads for the ODI and T20I series," SLC said in a statement.
However, ahead of the tour, 10 Sri Lankan cricket players chose to opt-out of the upcoming tour citing security concerns.
Last month, the SLC and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) agreed to bring forward the limited-overs leg of the split series and pushed back the two tests, which were originally set to take place in October.
Pakistan did not host international cricket for six years following the 2009 attack, with the team playing their home matches in the United Arab Emirates, but have hosted teams such as Zimbabwe and West Indies in recent years.
3.The 2009 Sri Lanka vs Pakistan series
The attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team on 3 March 2009 will always be remembered. The bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers was fired upon by 12 gunmen near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. The team were on their way to play the third day of the second Test match.
From Lahore attack to Christchurch mosque shooting: When terror came in the way of cricket
Seven Sri Lanka national cricket team members were wounded and six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed in the attack. The attack, believed to have been carried out by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was probably the first instance when cricketers were directly targeted by terrorists.
The Test was called off as the players were evacuated from the Gaddafi stadium and taken to a nearby airbase.
