Government assured to reject India-Pakistan cricket series

DELHI: Cricket dilettante may have to wait a while longer for India and Pakistan to resume their competition. The NDA government is believed to have indicated to the cricket board that it is not in favor of playing with the neighbour as of now, even in a neutral venue like Sri Lanka. “The government has given us an signal that public sentiment at the moment is against Pakistan, which is involved in anti-India activities. Also, there are only a few days left for the proposed series to start . If the government wanted us to play, we would have got clearance a long time ago. So, I don’t think this series is happening,”  official at the Board of Control for Cricket in India said . The government is also believed to have disapproved of the public statements made by some BCCI officials. Board sources said IPL chief and Congress MP Rajeev Shukla’s criticisms, that sports and politics should not be mixed, did not go down well with the Centre. The BCCI had sought the government’s permission for a short ODI and T20 series against Pakistan in Sri Lanka sometime after December 15 — a week after its ongoing series against South Africa and before it travels to Australia in January. The Lanka tie had seemed a certainty with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif giving it the opinion on November 26. It was to be played as part of an MoU agreement between the two boards to hold six two- sided series between 2015 and 2023.