"IT WILL BE UNFORTUNATE IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN IN SEMI-FINALS" BCCI COMPLAINS TO ICC

Team India is on the first place in points table after beating Sri Lanka by 7 wickets on Saturday. The match was an interesting chase and the team was performing when yet another incident of political overtone happened.

Unnamed aircrafts flew over the Headingley stadium with anti-India banners during the World Cup match. This is second such incident inside 10 days as Afghanistan and Pakistan fans had clashed at the same venue on June 29 after "Justice for Balochistan" banner was displayed by an unnamed aircraft that landed at the Bradford airport.

During India Vs Sri Lanka match, minutes after it began, an aircraft carrying the banner "Justice for Kashmir" flew above the ground. Later, another aircraft carried "India Stop Genocide, Free Kashmir" banner. A third aircraft carried "Help End Mob Lynching" banner.

BCCI has written to ICC regarding this issue. Writing to ICC, a BCCI official was quoted by The Indian Express as saying, “This is completely unacceptable. We have written to the ICC, raising our concerns about what happened in Headingley. If this kind of incident is repeated in the semi-finals, it will be really unfortunate. The safety and security of our players is paramount.”

ICC conveyed their apologies. “We are incredibly disappointed this has happened again. We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Throughout the tournament, we have worked with local police forces around the country to prevent this type of protest occurring. After the previous incident, we were assured by West Yorkshire Police there would not be a repeat of this issue, so we are very dissatisfied it has happened again.”