Kohli says team will stick to the decision of Govt, BCCI regarding Indo-Pak WC match

Virat Kohli has made his stand clear of Indo-Pak match

Visakhapatnam, February 23: Virat Kohli, the India skipper, said on Saturday the team will stick to the decision to be made by the Centre and the BCCI pertaining to the India vs Pakistan match at the ICC World Cup 2019 at Old Trafford on June 16.

"Our sincere condolences to the families of CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in Pulwama Attack. We stand by what the nation wants to do and what the BCCI decides to do. We will go by what the govt and the Board decides, we will respect that," Kohli said during the pre-match press conference ahead of the first T20I against Australia here on Sunday (February 24).

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The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had decided against taking any stand on the World Cup clash against Pakistan, but urged the ICC and other nations to "sever ties" with countries from where "terrorism emanates."

"We are in talks with the government. No decision has been taken on the June 16 match which is anyway far away," CoA chief Vinod Rai told reporters after the meeting. "We are expressing two concerns to the ICC. We will ask for more protection for players during the World Cup and we will tell cricketing nations to severe ties with any nation that is a terrorist hub," he said.

Rai said the BCCI will also write to ICC urging the world governing body to prompt other member nations to snap ties with nations that offer shelter to terror elements. "We'll write to ICC expressing our concerns about attacks that took place and that security of players, officials and everybody else must be taken care of. We're telling cricketing community that in future we must sever ties with nations from where terror emanates," said Rai.

The meeting of CoA and other BCCI officials were held to mull the course of action pertaining to the ICC World Cup 2019 match against Pakistan at Old Trafford on June 16. Several cricket associations and clubs had taken off pictures and memorabilia of Pakistan cricketers from their premises in the wake of Pulwama attack, while many Indian cricketers too had opined that India should boycott the match.