Pakistan ‘not optimistic’ about playing India: Khan – Indian opener Sehwag announces international retirement

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NEW DELHI, Oct 20, (AFP): Pakistan’s cricket chief said Tuesday he was not optimistic about resuming ties with India after hardline Hindu activists sabotaged talks between the two sides. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan was due to meet Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar on Monday but the meeting was cancelled after far-right activists stormed the Mumbai office in protest at the dialogue.

Khan said his hopes of talks being rescheduled on Tuesday in the Indian capital were dashed after he failed to hear from the BCCI bosses. “I came here to engage with the BCCI (but) there has been absolutely no word as to how they intend to move forward from here,” Khan told reporters in New Delhi.

“I am not optimistic now after what has happened here,” he said, referring to the storming of BCCI premises by activists of Shiv Sena, a junior ally of the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. India and Pakistan have not played a full series since 2007 after New Delhi halted all bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan following the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. India had blamed militants based in Pakistan for the attacks which left 166 people dead. Pakistan did tour India for two Twenty20 and three one-day internationals in December 2012 but even that tour failed to revive the full series.

Swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag, the only Indian batsman to score a triple century in Test match cricket, announced his international retirement on Tuesday. “God has been kind and I have done what I wanted to do,” Sehwag said in a statement on his 37th birthday after again being overlooked by the selectors for the ongoing series against South Africa. The right-handed batsman also confirmed that he was retiring from the Indian Premier League, an annual Twenty20 tournament that takes place in April and May.

Indian police said they have summoned Indian cricketer Amit Mishra over allegations that he assaulted a woman filmmaker in a hotel room in southern Bangalore city, an official said Tuesday. The woman, identified by police as Vandana, accused the 32-year-old Indian right-arm spinner of assaulting her with a kettle at a luxury hotel on Sept 25.

“We have filed an FIR (first information report) against Mishra on the basis of the complaint Vandana filed on Sept 27 and issued a notice asking him to appear before our investigating officer within a week,” Sandeep Patil, Bangalore deputy commissioner of police told reporters.

Patil said they have sent a copy of the summons to the Indian cricket board, as the accused was attending a camp organised by the board in the city when the alleged incident happened. The Mumbai-based film producer said in her complaint she had known the cricketer for three years and had gone to meet him at the hotel when he allegedly assaulted her.

Mishra has been named as a member of the Indian squad due to play the remaining two one-day internationals this month and the first two Tests against South Africa next month. The spinner plays for the Indian team in all three formats of the game.

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