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Pakistan Protests Indian Cricket Team wearing Army cap.
3-09-2019
On Friday March 8th, Indian cricket team took to the field for its third ODI against Australia in Ranchi by wearing Indian Military caps.
Captain Virat Kohli proudly announced after the toss that the team was wearing the caps to signal support for Indian soldiers. Reuters has reported that the idea to sport the caps came from former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is an honorary lieutenant colonel with the Indian Army.
Earlier BCCI had tried to keep Pakistan out of the World Cup.
BCCI on its twitter handle wrote #TeamIndia will be sporting camouflage caps today as mark of tribute to the loss of lives in Pulwama terror attack and the armed forces And to encourage countrymen to donate to the National Defence Fund for taking care of the education of the dependents of the martyrs #JaiHind`
After winning the toss and opting to field, Kohli said: “This is a special cap, it’s a tribute to the Armed forces.”
But Pakistan seems to have taken resentment to India's act of solidarity towards the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans who lost their lives.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has asked the ICC to take note of the deed without being reminded by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to do so.
"The world saw that the Indian cricket team wore military caps instead of their own, did ICC not see this? We think that it is the ICC's responsibility to take notice of this without the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) bringing it up," Qureshi was quoted as saying by Pakistan media.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry echoed Qureshi's sentiment. "It's just not Cricket," Chaudhry tweeted in the evening, attaching a picture which showed Indian cricketers wearing the cap. "I hope ICC ll take action for politicising Gentleman's game ... if Indian Cricket team ll not be stopped, Pak Cricket team should wear black bands to remind The World about Indian atrocities in Kashmir... I urge #PCB to lodge formal protest," Chaudhury wrote.
In July of 2014 , Moeen Ali had been banned from wearing “Save Gaza” and “Free Palestine” wristbands in the remainder of the third Test against India in Southampton by David Boon, the former Australia batsman who was the International Cricket Council’s match referee.
England had cleared Moeen to wear the bands, arguing that he was making a humanitarian statement and not a political one.
But the ICC issued the following statement “The ICC equipment and clothing regulations do not permit the display of messages that relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes during an international match. Moeen Ali was told by the match referee that while he is free to express his views on such causes away from the cricket field, he is not permitted to wear the wristbands on the field of play and warned not to wear the bands again during an international match.”
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