India must break cricketing ties with Pakistan:
Kapil Dev
DELHI, June 29 - Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev Tuesday called for
cricketing ties with arch-rivals Pakistan to be broken.
"India should not play against Pakistan anywhere," Dev told the Press Trust of
India as Indian soldiers fought what New Delhi claims are regular Pakistani
soldiers and Islamic guerrillas in Indian Kashmir.
India should not even agree to play Pakistan in neutral territory, said Dev, the
world's highest wicket-taker, adding that a series of cricket matches to be held
against Pakistan in September in Toronto should be cancelled.
"I'll be disappointed if the Indian cricket board still goes ahead with the series
when our soldiers are fighting a bitter battle to throw the enemy out," said Dev,
who recently visited an army hospital in Kashmir.
"These are the brave soldiers giving their lives to protect us and if we can't look
after them, we are good for nothing. "
Cricketing relations received a shot in the arm when Pakistan played its first
test match after a gap of 12 years in Indian soil in January.
The Indian military launched operations against Islamic raiders on May 9. The
seven-week-old conflict has raised fears of a full-fledged war between the
world's two newest nuclear powers.
Islamabad denies its soldiers are fighting in Kashmir or it has crossed the Line
of Control, dividing the disputed Kashmir.
Kashmir, India's only Moslem-majority state, has been the cause of two of the
three wars between the two nations. - AFP
Lemme tell everyone here something about Kapil Dev:
Back in 92 or was it 93 when India and Pakistani team came for the North American tour, they played quite a number of scrimmages. One such scrimmage was in NY's Randall Island. Mr. Dev refused to play, even step into the field, until he was paid the money promised on the spot. Apparantly first thing on his mind was payment or $$ than sportsmanship. The Village Voice made a real hooplaa out of this.
woah.. hold it.. now I may hate the INdians.. but I know one thing..
you don't got sportsmanship.
Kapil Dev, although I dislike the fellow, is wrong about Pakistan vs. India. C'mon.. that makes us all excitied.. I'd rather see a Pak vs. Ind than a PAk vs. Kenya. Also if we win.. that'll be great!
Aight guys .. i know how much more that couple of devs (kapil dev) deserves to be called for his outrageously unsportsmanlike opinions !! .. but guess what we cud if we had the liberty ... but on a public forum such as this .. i guess we shud refrain from doing so ! ...
Cuz there r indians who visit this page and will take it personally if any of their so-called stars r ridiculed so openly ..
Please don't take this personally, but what is unsportmanlike in calling for boycotting a country that has been indulging in unsportsmanly behaviour ?
Don't understand ? I mean, is it so difficult to see that when Pak is so keen on sending it's army and trained merceneries into India to kill Indians, Indians dont wanna play cricket with the pakis anymore.
Outrageously unsportsmanlike opinions<
Oh my GoD! Maybe you think the infiltrators Pak army and the mullahs who are busy sending in are all going to encourage cricket tours and praises for Pakistan ? Even the gulf countries have washed their hands off Pakistan in the infiltration issue.
so called stars<
yeah, right, we don't have any osama bin ladens , who are the "real stars".
SAHARA cup has been cancelled because of Pakistani terrorism. Sports and terrorism don't go hand in hand in civilized societies.
Come on guys lets not get upset at what Kapil Dev says. It really doesent matter if Pakistan plays India or not. Simply because, we've kicked their ass all over the world!!
We've beaten them in their own country, in Pakistan, in Sharjah and in Toronto. So it really doesent matter if we play them or not.
Quite frankly, I think we could do with TOUGHER COMPETITION!!!
As far as Dev goes, he's just trying to score points with the public. And the Sahara Cup being cancelled is a blessing in disguise for Pakistan. We've got a tough season coming up..we play the Australians in Australia and the West Indies in the West Indies so the boys can get focussed on the job at hand.
We always play well abroad and I think we have a good chance to beat both those sides.
Yeh keepin politics aside for a moment .. i guess our team shud spend more time playin teams who can provide them an opportunity to improve !! .. and why india when we know we can beat them anywhere :)
Now that it has become a matter of choice for teams to play who "they" want ... thx to sum local heroes ..yeh right ... i also opin in sayin that pak shud choose to play stiffer oppositions ....