Misbah-ul-Haq expresses concern over anti-Pakistan protests in Mumbai
Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who scored his 9th Test century against England today, has expressed his concerns over the anti-Pakistan protests that were held in Mumbai on the eve of the scheduled meeting between PCB Chief Shahryar Khan and BCCI President Shashank Manohar, reported ESPNcricinfo.
The meeting between Khan and Manohar was disrupted as 50 Shiv Sena workers stormed the BCCI headquarters, started shouting anti-Pakistan slogans and called for the cancellation of the proposed series which is supposed to take place in December.
Due to the protests, ICC withdrew Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar who is part of the umpiring delegation for the India-South Africa series. Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar, who were part of the Star Sports commentary team, also had to return to Pakistan after the 4th ODI in Chennai due to mounting security concerns.
Misbah, who is the Test captain, expressed his disappointment over political interference thwarting talks between the two nations. "It's always disappointing," he said in Dubai before the start of the second Test between Pakistan and England. "It's not just about India-Pakistan; wherever it happens it is disappointing. I believe politics should be separate from sports. Otherwise, it's really difficult for all nations that are playing the game and we all should play each other.”
Want to play everywhere and enjoy game: Misbah
The 41-year-old also quoted the recent cancellation of Australia’s tour of Bangladesh and termed it unfortunate, and said that there should be no politics involved in sports. "When Australia didn't tour Bangladesh recently that was disappointing as well," Misbah said. "As cricketers we want to play each other, and we don't want any sort of politics involved in this sport."
Pakistan has said that they do not plan on pulling out of the T20 World Cup to be played in India next which also features Mumbai among the eight venues. Nevertheless, Misbah expressed his concern over playing in India amid such political tension in the nation. Referring to the protests he said, "These are the big concerns."
Saying that these things can psychologically affect players, he also added that players would not be able to give out their best on the field.
"Obviously when these sort of things happens, that really puts something in your mind. I don't know what is going to happen, but obviously these are the big concerns. You don't want to restrict yourself not to play here and there. We really want to play everywhere and enjoy the game."
Pakistan faced this kind of problem before as well. The Pakistani women’s team was forced to play their group matches in Cuttack, following threats from political activists in Mumbai.
'Big Concerns' Over Playing in India, Say Misbah-ul-Haq https://t.co/LmNFrSSS5T
— CricketNDTV (@CricketNDTV) October 22, 2015
100! Congratulations to Misbah-ul-Haq on bringing up his 9th Test century on Day 1 of the 2nd Test #PakvEng pic.twitter.com/lqwpsVJoLg
— ICC (@ICC) October 22, 2015