Gambhir Bats For Having No Truck With Pakistan

This was Gautam Gambhir’s take on whether India should play Pakistan at the World Cup.

Transcript

00:00I think jawans are far more important, lives are far more important than any cricket game.

00:25My personal choice is that there is nothing wrong in forfeiting the game as well.

00:28Two points are not that important.

00:29Ultimately the country that's important, those 41 soldiers who have lost their lives are far more important than those two points.

00:35But my point is that if India decides to forfeit those two points,

00:38then the entire country should back the Indian cricket team even if they don't qualify for the semifinals.

00:42Or in fact, even if India has to play Pakistan in the World Cup final,

00:45if you let go of that World Cup final, I think the country should be ready for it.

00:49Because there should not be any backlash where certain sections of society start saying that

00:53you can't compare sports to politics and all that kind of stuff as well.

00:56So I feel that my personal opinion, there is nothing wrong in forfeiting two points

00:59because for me, I think jawans are far more important, lives are far more important than any cricket game.

01:03All of us need to be on the same page.

01:05All of us need to decide this, that is sports more important or lives are more important as well.

01:10For me, I think as I just mentioned, I'm all for it.

01:13If India has to face the backlash, even from the International Sporting Federation,

01:17they should be absolutely prepared for it.

01:19But there should not be any conditional ban that you stop.

01:23India should not play Pakistan only in bilateral or there should be conditional bans as well.

01:27So I think for me, I've already maintained this, that country is far more important,

01:31the sentiment of this country is far more important than any other activity,

01:34whether it's Bollywood, whether it's sports, whether it's art or anything or culture.

01:38For me, I think country comes first.

01:40So if we have to face that backlash, if we get boycotted in certain events or in other sports as well,

01:47we should be absolutely ready to do that.

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