MUMBAI: The disruption of Mumbai Magicians’ practice session here on Sunday has left the team rattled. The four Pakistan players – Mahmood Tousiq, Mahmood Rashid, Fareed Ahmed and Imran Butt – were rushed to the safety of team hotel via a back door exit of the Mumbai Hockey Association stadium after the unexpected protest.
One of the Pakistani players told TOI that the situation was very uncertain. “We four have been told that we will not be played in Wednesday’s match against Delhi. They will take a call after that. It’s a wait and watch policy,” he said.
An Indian member of the Magicians team told TOI: “All of us, including the Pakistan players, were pretty calm when the news was broken to us that some protests were happening at the MHA.
But things got a bit edgy when the Pakistan players were escorted out of the back entrance. The presence of so many policemen was reassuring, though. Now that we are in Delhi, the Pakistan players are fairly relaxed and have put the incident behind them.”
Asked if he knew whether the Pakistani players would participate in the HIL at all, the Magicians player said: “As of now we are completely clueless. I don’t know how things will pan out in the days to come.”
There have been calls to withdraw the Pakistan players from different quarters. “Shiv Sena’s action against players from Pakistan is just a natural reaction to what the people of this country are feeling.
They feel insulted at the brutal killing of our soldiers by Pakistan’s armed forces. The government must also give an appropriate response,” Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar said.