Our flight to Colombo is booked: Suryakumar Yadav

“Our flight (to Colombo) is booked,” said Suryakumar Yadav with a smile on his face.

The question was about the T20 World Cup clash between India and Pakistan in Colombo on February 15. It was asked at the ICC-organised captains’ meet here at the Cricket Centre on Thursday.

The Pakistan government has asked the country’s cricket board (PCB) to boycott the fixture, as attested by Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani Prime Minister. Unless there’s a climbdown from Pakistan’s side, the game is not taking place on February 15.

Surya, India’s T20I skipper, came up with a smart and short response to the Pakistan question. “This is not in our hands,” he said. “It’s their call, not ours. For us, there’s a game in Colombo on February 15. We will go and will be there to play. Our itinerary is set. We will play the first match here and will go to Delhi, and from there to Colombo. Hum toh ja rahe hai, humme mana nahi kiya unhone (we are going, they haven’t asked us not to turn up).”

On Wednesday, Sharif made it clear that Pakistan’s decision to boycott the fixture is a political stand. “We have taken a very clear stand on the T20 World Cup that we won’t play the match against India because there should be no politics on the sports field,” he told members of his cabinet. “We have taken a very considered stance, and we should completely stand by Bangladesh, and I think this is a very appropriate decision.”

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