'India Won't Come to Pakistan Because They are Afraid': Former Pak Opener Claims Security Concerns Just an 'Excuse'

India and Pakistan are at loggerheads regarding the 2023 Asia Cup, with BCCI making it clear that they won’t be travelling across the border to play their Asia Cup matches. As per reports, Rohit Sharma’s men could be set to play their Asia Cup games at a neutral venue, while Pakistan will remain hosts for the tournament.

England is touted as one of the venues for hosting India’s Asia Cup 2023 games although a final decision has yet to be made official via the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

A lot has been said about this India-Pakistan standoff regarding the Asia Cup with former players of both nations making their thoughts clear about the issue. On one hand, former players such as Shahid Afridi urged BCCI to tour Pakistan and take a step towards building the bilateral relationship between the two countries, former Pakistan opener Imran Nazir has taken a sly dig at the Men in Blue.

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Nazir feels that there are no security concerns across the border, with England and Australia touring Pakistan in recent times and that Team India are using security an an ‘excuse’.

“There is no security reason. Just look at how many teams have been to Pakistan. Forget A teams, even Australia visited. These are all just cover-ups,” said Nazir, speaking on the Nadir Ali podcast.

“The truth is that India won’t come to Pakistan [for the Asia Cup] because they are afraid of losing. Security is just an excuse. Come and play cricket. When you start playing politics, there is no way back,” he added.

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Imran played 8 Test matches, 79 ODIs and 25 T20Is for the Men in Green in his playing career that spanned between 1999 to 2012. He was also part of the Pakistani side that lost to India in the 2007 T20 World Cup final.

India have not played bilateral series against Pakistan since 2012-13, nearly a decade has passed since. Pakistan last travelled to India for the 2016 T20 World Cup and they would be travelling to Indian shores once again later this year for the ODI World Cup.

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