PBCC – Pakistan Blind Cricket Team to Participate in T20 World Cup: After much drama, MHA has finally issued the visa to 34 Pakistan blind cricket team players and officials for the T20 World Cup.
After the visa approval by the Union home ministry, the Pakistan blind cricket team can participate now in the Blind Cricket World Cup in India from December 5-17.
Currently, Pakistan is the top-ranked side in the world and runner-up in previous competitions.
Initially, India had rejected the Pakistan cricket team’s visa for travelling to India to play in the Blind T20 World Cup, and Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) also said they would release an updated tournament schedule.
It is worth mentioning that after the initial rejection, Pakistan Blind Cricket Council released a statement in which they said:
“This unfortunate incident has left Pakistan Blind Cricket Team in the lurch. Pakistan was a serious contender to win the World Cup as Pakistan has been the runners-up twice in the earlier two editions of this format of World Cups (2012 and 2017) and has beaten the current T20 World Champion, India, five times consecutively in the last five encounters during two Tri-Nation competitions in 2021 and 2022 and won both the events.”
“It was highly likely that Pakistan and India would have locked horns in the final of the ongoing World Cup, and considering the current form of Green Shirts, Pakistan had the high chance to win the World Cup.”
“As per the available information, the Ministry of External Affairs India has denied Pakistan Blind Cricket Clearance on Political Ground. Pakistan Blind Cricket Council strongly condemned this discriminatory act of India as Sports should be above regional politics, particularly the Special Persons mega sports events would be treated fairly. All teams must be given equal chances to compete in the event. Our counterpart Blind Cricket Association in India pleaded with their Govt for Pakistan clearance, but nothing was heard.” They further added.
The president of the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI), Mahantesh GK, told a sports magazine that they were “very, very disappointed” when they came to know about the absence of the Pakistan team in the tournament.
“I heard from our colleagues from Pakistan that they didn’t couldn’t get the visas; they had received this afternoon a call from the Indian High Commission saying that they wouldn’t be able to process the visas.”
It is very, very unfortunate because yesterday we had the inauguration of the tournament. Pakistan is one of the best teams, and we were keen to play with them. The Indian team is disappointed that they are not coming.” He further said.
It is worth mentioning that Jay Shah, the secretary of the Indian board and Asian Cricket Council (ACC)’s president, recently made a statement in which he said he wouldn’t send the Indian team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup next year and that the venue will be changed to a neutral one. In reply to that, PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said that if they shift the tournament to a neutral platform, we will boycott this tournament and the 2023 World Cup as well, which is scheduled to be held in India.
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