India is afraid of losing to Pakistan says former skipper Javed Miandad
Legendary Pakistan batsman and former captain Javed Miandad has countered the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), stating that they have shown no interest in reviving the UAE series, because they are afraid of losing to Pakistan. This comes after India’s humiliating defeat at home against the Proteas.
He pointed out that if the Ashes can be played regularly without any ego issues affecting it, why should it affect an Indo-Pak series, “It is India which does not want it to happen because they are afraid of losing to Pakistan,” he told Dawn.
Earlier, the much-anticipated scheduled meeting between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and BCCI officials to discuss this matter was cancelled after the Shiv Sena workers opposed it and vandalised the headquarters of the Indian cricket board in Mumbai.
Expressing his views on the same, Miandad said this clearly shows that neither the BCCI nor the Indian Government is sincere about the series in December. The right-handed batsman feels this shows how strongly the Indian government influences workings of the BCCI. “The BCCI is not a cricket board but a government’s board,” he said. “This attitude of India towards other cricketing nations is the beginning of their downfall and the day is not far when India would itself ask Pakistan for a series.”
Miandad added that after procuring the status of being the top three, BCCI officials have got inflated egos and their attitudes have changed.
“Before big three the ICC used to issue a 10-year Future Tours Programme for all countries but now we don’t see that as it is the big three who decide what all other Boards should do, which is such a shame,” he lamented.
The 58-year old further insisted that PCB must boycott next year's World Twenty20 in India. “If respect really matters to the PCB, then it should not send the team to the World T20,” he emphasised. “It is a matter of our country’s prestige for which India has no regard.”
According to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the PCB and BCCI, both the countries are scheduled to play six series between 2015 and 2023 after a clearance from the Indian Government, but nothing as of now has progressed due to political turmoil between both countries.
After the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, India-Pakistan have played just one reduced bilateral series in India in 2012-2013. The tour consisted of three One-day Internationals (ODI) and two Twenty20 (T20) matches.The Twenty20 series was drawn 1-1 while Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1. This was Pakistan's first win over India in a series since 2005. India has not toured Pakistan post-2008.