After the Cricket Club of India (CCI) covered the portrait of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in the aftermath of last week’s attack in Pulwama, yet more stadiums in India have followed suit to remove photographs of Pakistani cricket legends from their picture galleries.
Failing to keep sports separate from politics, the IS Bindra PCA Stadium in Mohali pulled down 15 photos of Pakistani cricketers including Javed Miandad, Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram, Indian media reported.
The Mohali stadium, which has hosted Pakistan in seven ODIs, one Test and two T20Is — which also included the 2011 semi-final of the ICC World Cup — had pictures from these tournaments put up in the visiting team’s dressing room, long room and corridors.
The Rajasthan Cricket Association also removed the photographs of Pakistani cricket stars from the picture gallery of Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) official production company, India’s IMG-Reliance, also pulled out of its agreement with the Pakistan Cricket Board to live-produce the ongoing games of the fourth edition.
PCB Managing Director Wasim Khan said in a statement on Sunday that they have always had a contingency plan in place and that the board was confident to be in a position to announce a new production partner on Monday once the formalities are completed.
“The PCB has also noted the recent turn of events and expresses its extreme disappointment as we have always believed and emphasised that sports and politics should be kept separate.
“History tells us that sports, particularly cricket, have always played a key role in building bridges between people and countries,” Khan said.
India and Pakistan have not played any bilateral series since 2008, and have only faced off in ICC multilateral tournaments.
