CCI Secretary To BCCI: India Shouldn't Play Against Pakistan In World Cup 2019

New Delhi, Feb 18: CCI Secretary Suresh Bafna said that India should not play against arch-rivals Pakistan in the upcoming Cricket World Cup, which is going to be played in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14. India is scheduled to take on Pakistan on June 16 at Old Trafford.

Suresh Bafna said that since Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has not come out openly about the attack in Kashmir, it shows that they are at fault somewhere. "We condemn the terror activities carried out against our army and CRPF personnel. Though CCI is a sporting association nation comes first even before sports," Bafna told.

After the terror attack, the CCI had covered the portrait of Imran Khan at their Brabourne stadium headquarters in Mumbai. The secretary said that the step was their way of condemning the barbaric attack on the country's security personnel.

"We called a meeting on the very next day of the attack and to condemn the attack, we decided to cover the photo. We'll be deciding soon how to remove the photo," he said.

In one of the deadliest attacks in decades on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives when a suicide bomber rammed his car carrying explosive close to 300 kg rammed into a bus carrying the Indian paramilitary force.

Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.