No cricket links with Pak -- Minister

No cricket links with Pak -- Minister
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

BANGALORE, AUGUST 26: Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs Syed Shahnawaz Khan today ruled out India playing cricket against Pakistan "for the time being".

"There is no question of India playing cricket with Pakistan as the neighbours were playing a different game of blood," he said in response to the Board of Control for Cricket in India's request to play in Pakistan in December-January. "We can't be playing two games at the same time", he stressed.

Asked whether the rule would apply to other games also, he merely said that the two countries would not play a direct match.

He reiterated the stand taken by Union Sports Minister Sukhdev Dhindsa that those cricketers who were under a cloud should opt out of the team and return only after they were cleared. "Won't they sit out if they are injured in a game? After the raids they were psychologically affected and it is for them to sit out".

On the BCCI's reluctance to sack national coach Kapil Dev, he said the cricket board was an autonomous body and the government could only advise it.

He said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the match fixing scandal was likely to submit its report by the end of September. However, he said no date had been fixed.

On the code of conduct submitted by the bcci, he said there were several good points in them. The ministry had not studied it in detail. But accountability was being fixed now, he added.

He said the sports policy would have to come up before the cabinet and it would be introduced in the winter session of parliament.