BCCI president Anurag Thakur will make an unprecedented request to the ICC asking them not to place India and Pakistan in the same group at the Champions Trophy in seven months’ time, so as to avoid the two teams from clashing. Though bilateral series have stopped since 2012, the two teams have routinely played each other in multi-nation tournaments like World Cups.
But with bilateral political relations deteriorating and government trying to isolate Pakistan, BCCI today decided that India will avoid playing Pakistan even in multi-nation tournaments when taking their request to ICC. The issue was discussed on the sidelines of the Special General Meeting here against the backdrop of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of Uri terror attack and the subsequent cross-LoC “surgical strikes” carried out by the Indian army. Anurag Thakur is an MP of the ruling BJP and said it was “in view of the public sentiment in the country.”