Why Shashi Tharoor Thinks India Need to Play Pakistan in World Cup

Shashi Tharoor says India played Pakistan during the Kargil War & should not pull out of the 2019 WC fixture as well

Shashi Tharoor says India played Pakistan in the World Cup at the height of the Kargil War and should not pull out of the 2019 WC fixture as well.

(Photo: IANS)

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has stepped into the big debate in Indian cricket right now - Should India refuse to play Pakistan in the ICC World Cup as a mark of respect for the Pulwama attack martyrs?

The idea of India pulling out of the 16 June fixture against Pakistan was first put forward by Harbhajan Singh last week and since then many former cricketers, including Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin and Chetan Chauhan have echoed his emotions.

The BCCI is holding a meeting in New Delhi on Friday and are in fact expected to write to the ICC, urging the world body to entirely ban Pakistan from the World Cup.

Shashi Tharoor though has said that India should not in fact pull out of the fixture as it would be “worse than a surrender”.

“Simple reminder - at the height of the Kargil War in 1999, India played Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup. To forfeit the match this year –as so many are clamouring for– would not just cost two points, it would be worse than a surrender, since it would be defeat without a fight. We should not make cricket a substitute for other actions that our Government should be able to take.”

Shashi Tharoor

In a social media post, Tharoor has posted the result of the 8 June 1999 India vs Pakistan World Cup match that ended in a 47-run Indian victory and drawn focus to the fact that India have never lost to their neighbours in cricket’s showpiece event.

If Virat Kohli’s team do forfeit the match this summer, they stand to lose two points in a group stage that sees all 10 teams playing each other. Tharoor is of the view that doing so “would be worse than a surrender, since it would be defeat without a fight. We should not make cricket a substitute for other actions that our Government should be able to take.”