Harbhajan Singh blasts BCCI for India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 stance; ‘we can’t skip playing one cricket match…’

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been under severe criticism after it green-lighted the Indian team to play Pakistan in the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, starting in UAE from September 9. Following the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, calls to boycott the Pakistan game grew stronger. Breaking his silence on the India vs Pakistan clash, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh came out in public recently to blast the BCCI, thus expressing his displeasure.

Having been clubbed in Group A together, India and Pakistan are scheduled to play on September 14 in the league stage. They are expected to face once again in the Super Four stage with a possibility of meeting for the third time in the final. Comparing the sacrifices which Indian soldiers make in the border, Harbhajan opined the calling off the IND vs PAK is a “very small matter.”

“They need to understand what is important and what is not. This is as simple as that. For me, the soldier who stands on the border, whose family often doesn’t get to see him, who sometimes sacrifices his life and never returns home — their sacrifice is so immense for all of us. Compared to that, this is a very small thing, that we can’t skip playing one cricket match. It’s a very small matter,” Harbhajan told TOI.

“Our government has the same stance. Blood and sweat cannot co-exist. It cannot be the case that there’s fighting on the border, tensions between the two nations, and we go to play cricket. Until these big issues are resolved, cricket is a very small matter. The nation always comes first,” added the former India off-spinner.

The Asia Cup 2025 schedule went public last month after an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Dhaka on July 24, which was attended by all the member boards. BCCI was represented by vice-president Rajeev Shukla who attended the meeting virtually.

Nations comes first: Harbhajan Singh tells BCCI

The 45-year-old also urged the BCCI to put nation first. “Whatever our identity is, it’s because of this country. Whether you are a player, an actor, or anyone else, no one is bigger than the nation. The country comes first, and the duties we owe to it must be fulfilled. Not playing a cricket match is nothing compared to the importance of the nation,” said Harbhajan, who has more than 400 Test wickets to his name.