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No India-Pakistan cricket, says Imran

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has advocated "no" cricket ties with India in the immediate future, reasoning that it will foster further ill-will among the two countries.

Imran, who during his playing days had made some astounding apolitical statements, like one he made in Sharjah in 1991, that the Kashmir issue should be settled on the cricket field, had yesterday said that Pakistan should play no more cricket with the rest of the world till the match-fixing issue was cleared.

In an Internet chat today, he felt cricket matches between perennial rivals India and Pakistan will spew more hatred than strengthening or reviving friendship.

Imran said: "When hostilities are as high as they are right now, instead of promoting ties, it will cause more hatred.''

Regarding Sachin Tendulkar replacing Mohammad Azharuddin as India's captain, he felt that captaincy was more a burden than responsibility on Azharuddin, hence it was a right decision.

"Given Sachin's past stint as captain, perhaps Ajay Jadeja would have been a better choice for a while," he added.

UNI