Indian government has refused to issue visas to Pakistan blind cricket team for the ongoing T20 World Cup on “political grounds”, it emerged on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC) said India had denied the team the visas for the tournament which is taking place in the neighboring country from Dec 5 to 17.
“This unfortunate incident has left the Pakistan blind cricket team in the lurch,” the council said, pointing out that the country had been runners-up in 2012 and 2017.
The declaration was made a few days after The Indian Express revealed that the Pakistani team would shortly receive permits to compete. Mahantesh GK, president of the Indian Cricket Association for the Blind, was mentioned in the newspaper as claiming that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was working on this issue.
The representative also gave assurance that the team will be granted visas. The article stated that a matchup between the two teams was planned for December 7. (tomorrow).
In the statement issued today, the PBCC highlighted that Pakistan had beaten current T20 world champion India five times consecutively during two tri-nation competitions in 2021 and 2022, winning 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 [the] Green Shirts, Pakistan had high chances to win the World Cup,” the statement said.
“This discriminating act will have serious consequence[s] on global blind cricket as we at World Blind Cricket will take stern action against them and may not allow India to host future International events,” the statement said.
