Pune (Maharashtra) [India], October 19 (ANI): Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan revealed on Tuesday that he was once hit with an iron nail by a fan while he was on a tour of Pakistan.
During the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and Bangladesh, Pathan made a shocking revelation while doing commentary.
“We were playing a game in Peshawar, a fan suddenly threw an iron nail at me which struck under my eye,” said Pathan on Star Sports.
“We never made an issue out of that and always appreciated their hospitality. Pakistan should stop making issues on crowd behaviour in India,” he added.
This comes when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) lodged a formal protest with the International Cricket Council (ICC) alleging delays in visas for Pakistan journalists, absence of visa policy for fans and ‘”inappropriate conduct” targeted at its team during the World Cup match against India in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has lodged another formal protest with the ICC over delays in visas for Pakistani journalists and the absence of a visa policy for Pakistan fans for the ongoing World Cup 2023. The PCB has also filed a complaint regarding inappropriate conduct targeted at the Pakistan squad during the India vs Pakistan match held on 14 October 2023,” tweeted PCB.
Earlier, a statement by the board as quoted by ESPNCricinfo had said on the matter of visas, “The PCB is extremely disappointed to see that journalists from Pakistan and fans are still facing uncertainty about obtaining an Indian visa to cover Pakistan games in ICC World Cup 2023. In the meantime, PCB has again reminded ICC and BCCI of their respective obligations.”
PCB boss Zaka Ashraf had also met Pakistan foreign secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi and requested him to take the matter with the Indian Home Ministry.
Also, Pakistan has alleged that its team’s visas were issued a day before they were scheduled to fly out and they missed out on a pre-WC training camp in Dubai.
Pakistan and Australia will lock horns in their Cricket World Cup match in Bengaluru on Friday. While Pakistan has won two games and lost one, Australia just opened their win tally against Sri Lanka, previously losing to India and South Africa. Pakistan lost their previous match against arch-rivals India as well. (ANI)
