I enjoy playing cricket in India more than in Pakistan: Afridi
Mar 13, 2016 at 12:53 PM
Pakistan players arrived in India after the Pakistan government cleared their visit for World T20 2016 in India. Initially, Pakistan government barred their national team from visiting India due to security concern. Pakistan were scheduled to play their first World T20 match against India at Dharamshala on March 19, but Himachal Pradesh government said that it couldn’t provide security to Pakistan team if the match played at Dharamsala.
Pakistan and India share a tense diplomatic relation because of terrorist activities in India. Because of political relationship, the bilateral series between India and Pakistan could also not materialize in 2015. BCCI initially agreed to play in UAE as BCCI president Shashank Manohar said that Sharjah was a hub of match fixing, but later chickened out.
PCB even agreed to play the series in Sri Lanka and BCCI too were ready, but Indian government refused to give any approval to this series.
Pakistan recently played against India in 2015 World Cup in Australia and in Asia Cup T20 2016 in Bangladesh. Pakistan lost both the matches.
However, because of cancellation of bilateral series, Pakistan government initially refused to send Pakistan in India. But, this is an ICC tournament where BCCI is only a host of the tournament. So, to avoid possible ban Pakistan came to India.
West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee and Kolkata Police commissioner Rajib Kumar conveyed a written letter to Pakistan interior minister and Sourav Ganguly dispatched a copy of the letter to ICC. This letter assured Pakistan government and they agreed to send Pakistan team in India.
Now, Pakistan landed in Kolkata and made their home in this tournament. Pakistan will play India on march 19 at Eden Gardens.
Captain Shahid Afridi has already revealed his excitement after landing in Kolkata yesterday.
Now after reaching India, he at the press conference, said, “There are very few nations where I’ve enjoyed cricket as much as I’ve enjoyed cricket in India.”
He further added, “India mien humne humesha cricket enjoy kia,yahan ke logon se humein bahut pyar mila,itna pyar humein Pak mein bhi ni mila jitna yahan.” (We always enjoy cricket in India. We receive love from Indians fans. It seems Indian fans love us more than the Pakistanis.”
India mein humne humesha cricket enjoy kia,yahan ke logon se humein bahut pyar mila,itna pyar humein Pak mein bhi ni mila jitna yahan-Afridi
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 13, 2016