Days after making headlines for his controversial ‘Bhaad me jao’ remark against the Board of Control for Cricket in India over the latter’s decision to not tour Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023, former Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad has given a clarification on his statement. Notably, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has made it clear that India will not travel to Pakistan for the continental tournament, instead Asia Cup 2023 will be shifted to a neutral venue.
Amid the tussle over Asia Cup, BCCI secretary Jay Shah and PCB Chief Najam Sethi met in a formal meeting in Bahrain to discuss the venue for the continental tournament. In a scathing attack on BCCI, Javed Miandad has said that BCCI should ‘go to hell’ if they don’t want to visit Pakistan. Meanwhile, former Pakistan cricketer has now given a clarification by stating that India not visiting Pakistan will not affect the latter.
“Do you know what the hell means? If you don’t want to play just don’t. We don’t have a problem. Ask the Indian cricketers. They will also say that there should be cricket between these two teams in their respective countries. It will benefit both nations,” Javed Miandad said.
The Pakistan cricketer also claimed that if India thinks not visiting Pakistan will anyhow harm the latter, then let me clarify that it makes no difference. “Pakistan has produced world-class cricketers as well as hockey players. Everywhere around the world, neighboring countries are playing with each other. What I meant by my comment was if you are not playing, what should we do? It's not like if India plays, we will get something out of it. I am just saying, there will be a good relationship between the two countries,” Miandad explained.
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He also asserted that when he visited India and met Bal Thackeray in his house, he was treated really well. “I did nine programs, even on the roads. Everything went by without a glitch. There are some people in India who twist things. But if you take the Indian masses, they are not like this only. My comment was also twisted. They didn’t understand what I meant. I said it in a positive way,” Miandad concluded.