“No Country Can Overlook India”: Anurag Thakur Responds To Ramiz Raja: Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has given a befitting reply to ‘the 60-year-old’ Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja after he audaciously claimed that no one would watch the 2023 ODI World Cup if Pakistan does not participate in it.
Jay Shah, the secretary of the BCCI and the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), responded aggressively to Ramiz Raja, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), last month when he said that Team India players would not be permitted to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup the following year and that he wanted the location changed to the United Arab Emirates. Ramiz reaffirmed his position that Pakistan won’t visit India for the ODI World Cup in 2023 if India doesn’t come for the Asia Cup, despite PCB’s response to the declaration last month. Before Anurag Thakur, India’s Union Sports Minister responded harshly, the remarks caused quite a commotion.
Read, Pakistan will not take part in ODI World Cup 2023 in India, says PCB Chairman
‘No country can overlook India’: Thakur’s response to Raja
Responding to Rameez Raja’s claims, Anurag Thakur in an interview with ANI said- “Wait for the right time. India is a major power in the world of sports & no country can overlook India. Over the years, India has undoubtedly established themselves as one of the biggest powerhouses in cricket, having gained the rights to host three of the next big ICC events. No other country has been given the right to even host two of these ICC events.”
Ramiz remarked in an interview with Urdu News on Friday, more than a month after Shah’s stunning statement: “If Pakistan doesn’t take part in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? We have a clear stand: If the Indian team comes here then we will go for the World Cup. If they don’t come then they can play the World Cup without us. We will adopt an aggressive approach. Our team is showing performance. I’ve always said we need to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket, and that can only happen when we perform well. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, we beat India. We beat India in the T20 Asia Cup. In one year, the Pakistan cricket team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice.”
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