Kiwis ready to replace India at Sharjah meet

Kiwis ready to replace India at Sharjah meet
Reuters

HAMILTON, March 30: New Zealand have accepted an invitation to play in a three-nation one-day tournament in Sharjah next month to replace India.“The invitation was received by New Zealand Cricket Board earlier this week as a result of India belatedly withdrawing from the event,” New Zealand Cricket Chief Christopher Doig said in a statement on Friday.

However, the Indian Government has yet to announce whether its National team would be permitted to play in the Sharjah event which includes Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the Indian cricket board said it had not withdrawn.

“We have not pulled out of the tournament. We want to go. We will only not go if the government tells us not to,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jaywant Lele told Reuters in the central city of Indore on Friday.“We are still waiting for their (the government’s) decision.”

Indian media reports have said New Delhi is considering pulling out of the Sharjah tournament because of tensions with Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said on Tuesday it would sever cricketing relations with India if its traditional rivals withdrew from the tournament.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s governing body, said on Wednesday it would not intervene as the tournament was a private invitational competition.

Doig said the tournament was a positive opportunity for New Zealand to develop a group of younger cricketers, as several senior players were unlikely to be selected because of the length of the season now winding down.

New Zealand would renew their recent rivalry with both Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Sharjah event starting on April 8, both teams having toured in the current New Zealand season.