Northeast remarks from Bangladesh may lead to cancellation of India’s cricket tour; Asian Cup also in limbo: Report

There have been calls for the BCCI and India to boycott Pakistan in the cricketing world, but a boycott of Bangladesh is also being considered following disparaging remarks about occupying Northeast India. read more

India not playing cricket against Pakistan and Bangladesh in near future could become a reality. Image: Reuters

The terrorist attack in India’s Pahalgam could result in massive upheaval in the cricketing calendar for the sub-continent teams, especially Pakistan and Bangladesh, besides the Men in Blue. So far, there have been demands of India enforcing a complete boycott of Pakistan in the cricketing world, but it’s also quite possible that the Men in Blue cancel their scheduled tour to Bangladesh in August for three ODIs and three T20Is, a media report has claimed.

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The development comes after a retired Bangladesh army official spoke about occupying seven states of Northeast India on a social media platform. “If India attacks Pakistan, Bangladesh should occupy the seven states of North-East India. In this regard, I think it is necessary to start a discussion on a joint-military system with China," Maj Gen (retired) ALM Fazlur Rahman said in a Facebook post.

BCCI to boycott Bangladesh tour?

A report in the Times of India has claimed that there’s a “bright possibility” India and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) could cancel Men in Blue’s tour to Bangladesh because of the recent comments over Northeast India. However, no “concrete” decision has been taken so far.

“The tour is part of the calendar but nothing is final yet. There is a bright possibility of India not touring Bangladesh for the ODIs and T20Is because of the current situation,” a source told the Times of India.

Asia Cup could be scrapped in 2025

The already rising tension between India and Pakistan and now the disparaging remarks from Bangladesh, have put a question mark over the Asia Cup T20 2025 as well. The report adds that India-Pakistan cricket could become “unlikely” in the near future.

The Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to take place in September after India’s tour of Bangladesh. If India pull out of the Asia Cup to boycott Pakistan, then there are good chances the tournament will be scrapped in 2025.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan has urged that sports and politics should not be mixed. “Whenever I meet our cricketing family, which features top players like Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, and Joe Root, we meet like brothers and learn a lot from each other. I’ll just say that politics should not be brought into sport,” he said.

The calls for a complete boycott of Pakistan in cricket have been growing strong in India ever since the Pahalgam attack. Legendary captain Sourav Ganguly is one of the prominent sporting voices supporting this demand.

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