Lahore: Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has slammed the BCCI, alleging that the Indian cricket board played a role in the ICC postponing the T20 World Cup later this year to make room for the Indian Premier League (IPL). Akhtar also felt that the Asia Cup could have taken place.
"Asia Cup could have definitely happened, it would have been a great chance for India and Pakistan to play against each other. There are many reasons behind this. I don't want to get into that," Akhtar said while speaking to a Pakistani news channel.
"T20 World Cup could have also happened, but I had already said earlier that they won't let it happen. IPL should not be damaged, let the World Cup go to hell," Akhtar said.
The postponement of the men's T20 World Cup in due to COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for IPL to take place this year. The BCCI is planning to stage the tournament in UAE.
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) also officially announced earlier in the month that the 2020 Asia Cup has been cancelled, a day after BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had said the same.
Akhtar didn't stop there and even dragged in the 'Monkeygate' controversy to prove his point, hinting that it was BCCI's strong influence which 'saved' Harbhajan Singh from the infamous controversy with former Australian batter Andrew Symonds.
"Sometimes they get easy wickets in Melbourne, at times someone calls another person a monkey but gets saved, the talk goes to boycotting the series."
"I am asking the Australians, where are their ethics?" Shoaib Akhtar said.
"You made kids cry for scratching a cricket ball and they got away by calling someone a monkey. They (BCCI) said to end the series and they (Australian Board) said no such incident happened. Are these your moral grounds, did you not get the sounds on the mic," he added.
On Monday, ICC had announced that the T20 World Cup has been officially postponed after the board met virtually.
The global event was supposed to be held from October 18 to November 15 but the country’s cricket board expressed its inability to host the massive tournament amid a second surge of COVID-19 cases in the state of Victoria.
