India and Pakistan must resume cricketing ties – Imran Khan

India and Pakistan must resume cricketing ties – Imran Khan

Former Pakistan captain and one of the most popular politicians of Pakistan, Imran Khan has said that India and Pakistan must resume cricketing ties as the fans all around the world are waiting to see the two teams play against each other.

India and Pakistan have had poor relations since last 64 years and matters got worse in 2008 after the terror attack in Mumbai. Since then, the two teams have not played a bilateral series and the Pakistani players have been excluded from the Indian Premier
League (IPL).

Imran feels that the neighbouring countries must forget their past and should look to rebuild their relationship. He revealed that cricket is at its best when India and Pakistan take on each other as it was witnessed in the semi-final of the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011.  

The cricketer turned politician said, “We have deprived the sub-continent of the pleasure of an Indo-Pak cricket series. The highlight of the World Cup was the semi-final between Pakistan and India. Let’s put our past behind and move on. It’s time for new
relationship and new era.”

Former all-rounder expressed that Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest batsmen of the history of the game but his time is up now and he should have retired after the World Cup in 2011.

“We all want to go with a big bang but you always don’t get it right. For Sachin the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He is a great player and there is no replacement for him,” Imran believes.

While talking about the recent performances of the Indian cricket team, Imran said that the decline of India’s performance in international cricket is due to franchise cricket and it is about time that India sets its priorities right.

Apart from Imran, a number of other former cricketers also believe that IPL is a menace for international cricket.

Imran added, “If you want to be the leaders you can’t keep losing. If you pay so much emphasis on Twenty20 cricket, you’ve got to pay hugely. India has to decide soon whether it prefers glamour, Bollywood and money to Test cricket.”

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 1 2012. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry