Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Science and Technology of Pakistan, claimed on Tuesday that India has threatened Sri Lanka over participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) if these players toured to Pakistan which is scheduled later in September.
Chaudhary tweeted, “Informed sports commentators told me that India threatened SL players that they’ll be ousted from IPL if they don’t refuse Pakistan visit.”
“This is really cheap tactic, jingoism from sports to space is something we must condemn, really cheap on the part of Indian sports authorities,” the tweet added.
Informed sports commentators told me that India threatened SL players that they ll be ousted from IPL if they don’t refuse Pak visit, this is really cheap tactic, jingoism from sports to space is something we must condemn, really cheap on the part of Indian sports authorities
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 10, 2019
The tweet should be viewed in the context of as many as ten Sri Lankan players, including the captain of the Sri Lanka T20I side Lasith Malinga, opting out of the forthcoming tour of Pakistan citing security concerns as the reason on Monday.
Notably, the Sri Lankan cricket board had given the players a detailed brief on the security arrangements being made for the tour and were then given the freedom to decide if they wanted to be a part of the Pakistan tour or not. Post the brief given to the Sri Lankan players, ten players decided they would stay away from the tour which comprises of a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series and a two-match T20 International (T20I) series.
The other players who refused to tour Pakistan include Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Chandimal, and Dimuth Karunaratne.
The tour is scheduled to begin on 27 September and end on 9 October.