Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi on Thursday disagreed with limited-overs skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed’s claims that the Indian cricket team was scared of playing against Pakistan and hence the Indo-Pak bilateral series is not taking shape, said reports.
“Sarfaraz has his own views but I don’t think he said they were scared directly. To me it is simple, everyone knows the reasons for India not playing against Pakistan. It is all political and has nothing to do with cricket,” said Misbah during the ICC Champions Trophy unveiling.
Misbah said that politics, specifically the Indian government, is the main reason behind both teams failing to play a bilateral series against each other. “I think the Indian team players also would like to play against us but it is politics which is not allowing a bilateral series. It is the Indian government which is not allowing it,” he said.
The 42-year-old added that people from both countries wanted to see both teams play each other regularly. “It is a great loss to cricket that we are not playing against each other like we should. We are achieving nothing by not playing against each other.”
The Champions Trophy between the two teams on June 4 was already sold out and Misbah said that Pakistan had a very good chance of beating India in England.
“He [Sarfaraz] has done a good job and I think our team is a blend of experience and youth. We are now best placed to win the June 4 encounter against India and also do well in the Champions Trophy,” Misbah said.
Afridi too said that the Indian government needs to change its view if bilateral cricket was to be resumed between both the nations. “If there is no bilateral cricket being played it is because of the Indian government. I don’t think the Indian players do not want to play against us,” said Arfidi.
Afridi said that the people of both the countries were being deprived of a high-profile series. “When we went there last year the Indian people were happy to see us play there,” he said.