Rohit Sharma says his India side will not be distracted from the task at hand by speculation Pakistan could boycott the 2023 World Cup in their homeland.
The two Asian giants are due to meet again in front of nearly 100,000 spectators at the MCG in their opening T20 World Cup fixture on Sunday.
It will be the fourth time they have played each other in a year, having twice met in the Asia Cup in Dubai last month, and at the same venue last October in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Those tournaments were played in the UAE for varying reasons. The Emirates stepped in this year after Sri Lanka were unable to stage the Asia Cup due to the economic and political crisis in the country.
Last year, the UAE and Oman staged the T20 World Cup because of the Covid situation in India.
Next year, Pakistan are set to host the Asia Cup, as a pre-cursor to the 50-over World Cup across the border in India.
This week, though, doubt was cast over the participation of both countries in the respective tournaments.
First, Jay Shah, who is both the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the chairman of the Asian Cricket Council, said the Asia Cup would not take place in Pakistan.
“A neutral venue for Asia Cup is not unprecedented and we have decided that we will not travel to Pakistan,” Shah was quoted as saying.
“It is the government which decides over the permission of our team visiting Pakistan so we won't comment on that. But for the 2023 Asia Cup, it is decided that the tournament will be held at a neutral venue.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board released a statement on Wednesday expressing anger at Shah’s words.
“The PCB has noted with surprise and disappointment [the comments] with regards to shifting of next year’s Asia Cup to a neutral venue,” the statement read.
“The comments were made without any discussion or consultation with the Board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board and without any thoughts towards their long-term consequences and implications.
“After having presided over the ACC meeting during which Pakistan was awarded the Asia Cup with overwhelming support from the ACC Board Members, Mr Shah’s statement of shifting of the ACC Asia Cup has clearly been made unilaterally.”
The PCB said Shah’s statement had “the potential to split the Asian and international cricketing communities,” and could “impact Pakistan’s visit to India” for the 2023 World Cup.
Despite the issue clouding the build-up to their meeting in Australia, Rohit said his side remain fully focused.
“Let's focus on this World Cup because this is important for us,” Rohit, the India captain, said. “We're not worried about what is going to happen later. There's no point in thinking about it.
“The BCCI will make the decisions on that. We are focused on how we need to be very well prepared for tomorrow's game.”
Much of the focus ahead of the fixture has been on the weather. The MCG, the biggest cricket ground in the world outside India, is sold out, but the spectators could be deprived a full fixture because of rain.
Victoria, the state of which Melbourne is the biggest city, has experienced severe and widespread floods over the past week.
The forecast for Sunday had improved, though, with the prospect of rain around 20 per cent at the time the match is scheduled for.
“I've been hearing about Melbourne weather for a while now, and it keeps changing,” Rohit said. “You don't really know what is going to happen tomorrow. The things that are in our control, we'll try and control that.
“We need to come here thinking that it's a 40-over game. We will be ready for that. If the situation demands that it's a shorter game, we will be ready for that, as well. A lot of the guys have played such kinds of games before.
"They know how to manage themselves in a situation like that where you are getting ready for a 40-over game and then suddenly it's a 20-over game for both sides, 10 overs each or five overs each.
“Luckily, we played one game in India against Australia which was an eight-over game. I don't think it's going to make much of a difference, but we just certainly need to come here very well prepared.”
MATCH INFO
Alaves 1 (Perez 65' pen)
Real Madrid 2 (Ramos 52', Carvajal 69')
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
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The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
MATCH DETAILS
Manchester United 3
Greenwood (21), Martial (33), Rashford (49)
Partizan Belgrade 0
