India bars Rohit Sharma from visiting Pakistan for CT ceremony
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The BJP government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has barred Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma from visiting Pakistan to attend ICC Champions Trophy ceremony to be held next month, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday.
Sources in Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that Rohit Sharma was supposed to come to Pakistan to attend the ICC Champions Trophy ceremony in mid-February.
All captains will attend the trophy unveiling and media conference before the ICC mega event.
The Champions Trophy is an International Cricket Council event.
According to the Times of India, the BCCI wants ICC to change the Champions Trophy events to Dubai so Rohit can physically attend these events. This request by the BCCI left the PCB annoyed.
"ICC has already accommodated India's request not to schedule its Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan, so these are minor issues," a source told the Indian paper.
The other issue that sent social media into a frenzy is the Indian team's reluctance to ensure that Pakistan is written on their jersey. Although as per ICC's rule, the hosting country's name should be a part of the jersey of all the participants the BCCI wants an exception since the Rohit Sharma-led side would be playing their matches in Dubai.
"The BCCI is bringing politics into cricket, which is not at all good for the game. They refused to travel to Pakistan. They don't want to send their captain (to Pakistan) for the opening ceremony. Now there are reports that they don't want the host nation's (Pakistan) name printed on their jerseys. We believe that the world governing body (ICC) will not let this happen and support Pakistan," a PCB official was quoted as saying to IANS.
It should be noted here that the Men in Green did have India written on their 2021 T20 World Cup jersey despite it being held in UAE. And if India doesn't have Pakistan's name written on their Champions Trophy jersey, then they might break ICC's Code of Conduct.
The upcoming mega-event is all set to begin on February 19.
Reporter: Hamad Angaria