IPL should not be damaged, let the World Cup go to hell: Shoaib Akhtar slams BCCI

Tags: Pakistan, India, Shoaib Akhtar, BCCI, IPL

Published on: Jul 24, 2020

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has hit out at the BCCI, alleging the Indian cricket board had a hand in the postponement of the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup to pave the way for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held. Akhtar also expressed disappointment at the Asia Cup being cancelled.

"Asia Cup could have definitely happened, it would have been a great chance for India and Pakistan to play against each other. There are many reasons behind this. I don’t want to get into that," Akhtar said in an interaction with Geo Cricket on YouTube. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced earlier in the month that the 2020 Asia Cup has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.

"T20 World Cup could have also happened, but I had already said earlier that they won’t let it happen. IPL should not be damaged, let the World Cup go to hell," Akhtar added. The T20 World Cup was scheduled to be held in Australia in October-November this year. However, the same has been pushed behind owing to COVID-19. At the same time, the BCCI is going all out to try and conduct the IPL in the UAE.

The Rawalpindi Express also dug up the issue of ‘Monkey Gate’ to stress that BCCI clouts its power wherever it can. In the controversial Sydney Test of 2008, Harbhajan Singh was accused of hurling racial abuses at Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds, but was eventually cleared of any wrongdoings.

"Sometimes they get easy wickets in Melbourne, at times someone calls another person a monkey but gets saved, the talk goes to boycotting the series. I am asking the Australians, where are their ethics?" Akhtar said.

"They (BCCI) said to end the series and they (Australian Board) said no such incident happened. Are these your moral grounds, did you not get the sounds on the mic," Akhtar questioned.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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