ICC president Zaheer Abbas has strongly condemned the incident in Mumbai when members of the Shiv Sena barged into the office of the BCCI to protest against the talks between the Indian cricket governing body and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The two cricketing bodies were scheduled to hold talks ahead of the proposed bilateral series between the two nations slated to be in December this year.
BCCI president Shashank Manohar was willing to take the talks forward with PCB chairman Shahryar Khan.
Commenting on the incident, the ICC president said there should be a bridge between cricket and politics, and the game should not be affected at any cost owing to the political reasons. "It's not a new thing. It's been happening for long. But being the ICC president, I want cricket to spread all around the world," Abbas was quoted by the PTI.
"Politics and cricket are two different things. Pakistan is not asking India to play in Pakistan. Pakistan is asking for a bilateral series to be played at a neutral venue," the former Pakistani cricketer added.
Explaining the great euphoria an India-Pakistan cricket series can generate, Abbas stated that everyone around the world are waiting for fruitful news on the bilateral series from India.
"Nothing better than India and Pakistan playing each other. The whole world and the people of both India and Pakistan are waiting for the series. The world is hoping that India will give a good news to the cricketing world," Abbas said.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee mentioned that the officials from BCCI and the PCB are welcome to hold their meeting in Kolkata.
Hearing about incidents related to disruption of BCCI work in Mumbai. Cricket Board welcome to meet in Kolkata.
