The cricket fans are thrilled with the news of BCCI gearing up for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the T20 World Cup 2020 was postponed by the ICC because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, as the fans are as excited as they could get for the much-awaited season of the IPL, on the other hand, seems like the former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar is frustrated with the same.
Well, recently, Shoaib Akhtar slammed BCCI by alleging that the Indian cricket board is responsible for ICC postponing the T20 World Cup, which was scheduled to take place later this year, in order to make a room for the IPL. Not just this, Shoaib Akhtar also feels that the Asia Cup could have also taken place and how it would have been a great chance to see arch-rivals India and Pakistan playing against each other. He said:
“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,”
He added:
“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,”
For the unversed, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which was initially scheduled to be played in Australia between October 18 and November 15 this year, has now been scheduled for October-November 2021 with the final showdown planned for 14th November 2021.
Talking about the IPL, the BCCI is planning to stage the tournament in UAE.
During the same interaction on YouTube, Shoaib Akhtar also slammed Cricket Australia for the ‘monkeygate’ controversy. where Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh was accused of hurling r*cial taunts at Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the second Test match in Sydney. Talking about the same, Shoaib Akhtar said:
“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?”
He added:
“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,”
