BCCI secretary says complete boycott of sports with Pakistan is impossible
India, which had led the call for a boycott, finally bowed to Pakistan and expressed its willingness to play Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
In recent months, following military tensions between the two countries, Hindu extremists in India have launched a campaign to boycott sports with Pakistan.
However, cricket experts and analysts have already said that Pakistan's boycott of India would be limited to mere sloganeering, as any such action could cost India a huge financial loss.
Patriotic anger and boycott slogans were eventually overtaken by financial interests and that is what happened.
Interestingly, India refused to play Pakistan in the Legends Championship because there was no major risk of financial loss in this tournament, whereas in a major event like the Asia Cup, India showed its willingness to play and leave everything aside.
Indian Board Secretary Devajit Saikia, in an exclusive interview with NDTV, said that a complete boycott of sports with Pakistan is not possible because if India refuses to play against Pakistan in multi-nation tournaments, severe sanctions can be imposed by the ICC or the Asian Cricket Council.
Such measures can also negatively affect the careers of young cricketers.
He said that the central government formulates a policy regarding participation in each sport.
This decision has been taken very carefully so that national-level sports federations find it easy to participate or not in multinational tournaments accordingly.
Saikia further said that the central government has taken into consideration all the factors, including the interests of the federations and the concerns of the players.
The BCCI is only following the guidelines of the Indian government regarding sports.
It should be remembered that the Indian and Pakistani teams will face each other in the group stage on September 14, while it is possible for the two teams to compete up to three times during the tournament.
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