"Trust me a World Cup cricket event can easily survive without Pakistan but it won't survive without an Indian team. I believe, you cannot just ignore the public sentiment after the Pulwama attack."
Yuzvendra Chahal
Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal feels the country should take strong action to end terror attacks like Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, but refused to say whether the World Cup game against Pakistan should be boycotted.
The attack is the deadliest in the last 30 years in Jammu and Kashmir and there has been demands for India to refuse playing Pakistan in the World Cup which gets underway in England from May 30. "This should settle once and for all. We can't tolerate it any longer," Chahal told 'India Today'.
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"Every three months we get to hear about our jawans losing their lives to terrorism and we can't keep waiting for things to happen. We have to make things happen and we should settle this face to face, even if that means aar paar ki ladaai (fight on the battlefield)," he added.
Terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, which operates out of Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has escalated the political tensions between the two countries. India are scheduled to play Pakistan on June 16 at Old Trafford in the upcoming World Cup and the 28-year-old leg-spinner said it is for the BCCI to decide if India should boycott playing the arch-rivals in the tournament.
"The decision to play the World Cup match against Pakistan has to be taken by the BCCI and the government. One or two players cannot decide but I think it is high time and we need to take strong action against the perpetrators of terrorism," he said.
Former India opener Chetan Chauhan feels BCCI should put pressure on the ICC and throw Pakistan out of the competition. "...we don't have the option of not playing just one match as there is a chance that we could meet them in semi-final or final. In that case, either we pull out of World Cup or play the full tournament," said Chauhan, who is also the Uttar Pradesh sports minister.
"Now, I believe India is still the market for 60 to 70 percent of ICC's global sponsorship. So, the BCCI should put pressure on the ICC and try to get Pakistan out of the World Cup. "Trust me a World Cup cricket event can easily survive without Pakistan but it won't survive without an Indian team. I believe, you cannot just ignore the public sentiment after the Pulwama attack."
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