COLOMBO: Echoing his cricket board's stance, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha on Thursday stressed that the decision to boycott the T20 World Cup match against India was taken by their government and “not in our control.”
Pakistan had announced on Sunday that it would boycott its high-profile men’s T20 World Cup group league fixture against India on February 15. However, the Pakistani government cleared the national team’s participation in the rest of the global event starting February 7.
“Yeah, the India game, it’s not in our control. It’s a government decision, and we respect that. Whatever they are going to say, we do that,” Agha said during the captain’s conference.
He added that if the two arch-rivals meet in the knockouts, Pakistan will again abide by the government’s decision.
“Well, I have mentioned that before. It is a government decision and we respect that. We will do what they are going to say and we will do that. Regardless — I do not know if the game is going to happen or not, but the government has said one thing and we are going to do that. If we have to play them again in the semifinal or final, we will have to go back to them and act on their advice,” Agha said.
Pakistan’s decision, conveyed through an official government statement, is a political protest against Bangladesh’s removal from the tournament. The ICC had declined Bangladesh’s request to shift matches from India to Sri Lanka on security grounds.
Agha called it unfortunate that Bangladesh will not be playing in the tournament. “Well, they are our brothers. I’ll say they can support us in the tournament as well. And it’s really sad to see them not playing the World Cup.”
During the press conference, Agha was also reminded of Pakistan’s embarrassing defeat to the USA in the last edition of the tournament in the Americas. Both Pakistan and the USA are in the same group this time as well.
“Yes, we lost to the USA in the last World Cup, but that’s history now. It’s a new World Cup, a new team, and a new combination, and we are very excited about it. It’s my first World Cup as a captain, and I’m very excited about that. As a captain, I just want to lead from the front, do as much as I can for the team, get the best out of the team, and prepare an environment where they can play at their best,” Agha said.
Looking to build on their recent success, the Pakistan captain said the team will take confidence from their 3-0 series win against Australia last week at home, though the visitors were without a few of their top players.
Agha welcomed the discussion moving away from the India game, highlighting Pakistan’s recent form. “Nice to have a question apart from the India game. We have been playing really good cricket. I think post-Asia Cup, we haven’t lost a series yet and we have won most of our games. We are playing really good cricket. Everything is coming along very nicely. We are very hopeful and excited for this World Cup and really hope to do well here as well.”
Pakistan, however, has struggled in ICC tournaments, getting knocked out in the first rounds of the last three global events and losing to India.
“Yes, definitely, in the last three events we haven’t played the cricket that was expected by us, by the people, or what we expect from ourselves as a team. But that is history and we can only learn from that, and we have learnt a lot from it,” he said.
The Pakistan skipper added that the team has settled down since arriving in Sri Lanka and called the country his “second home.”
Having refused to play against India, Pakistan’s margin for error is very small if they hope to progress into the knockouts, with Sri Lanka’s unpredictable weather adding further challenges.
“The weather, you can’t control. We are just here to play good cricket, and whatever challenges they throw at us, we will deal with that,” he added.