Pakistan minister blames India for Sri Lanka players’ tour boycott

A Pakistan Minister on Tuesday made an outrageous claim after 10 Sri Lankan players decided to opt out of an upcoming Pakistan tour. Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry said India threatened the players from the island nation against participating in the upcoming series against Pakistan. He even claimed that India “threatened SL players” that they would lose their IPL contracts if they travelled to Pakistan, reports NDTV.

“Informed sports commentators told me that India threatened SL players that they will be ousted from IPL if they don’t refuse Pak visit, this is really cheap tactic, jingoism from sports to space is something we must condemn, really cheap on the part of Indian sports authorities,” Chaudhry tweeted.

Sri Lanka’s top players, including T20I skipper Lasith Malinga, former captains Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, Suranga Lakmal, Dimuth Karunaratne, Thisara Perera, Akila Dhananjaya, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Perera and Niroshan Dickwella opted out of the tour starting September 27, following a security briefing with the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board.

Sri Lanka are slated to play three ODIs in Karachi on September 27, 29 and October 3, and as many T20Is in Lahore on October 5, 7 and 9 during the tour, before returning in December for the Test series that will be a part of the World Test Championship.