An old controversial quote from April 2023 by former Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad, urging the Indian men's cricket team to visit Pakistan for the Asia Cup is being shared with the misleading claim that it is a recent statement. In response to security concerns raised by the Indian side, he had then responded, "Death will come when it will come."
The 2023 edition of the ODI tournament was co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka after India objected to visiting Pakistan due to security concerns. The next ACC Asia Cup in 2025 will be played in T20 format, with the UAE and Oman hosting it. Pakistan is set to host the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, with now questions arising on whether the Indian team will visit Pakistan this time.
The viral quote is being shared the screenshot of a post with the graphic with the caption, "Javed Miandad has urged India to participate in the Asia Cup, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September this year. There should be noconcern about security. We believe that deathwill come when it is destined. They should definitely come, Javed said."
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the controversial statement by Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad dates back to April 2023, before the 2023 Asia Cup, which was initially set to be hosted solely by Pakistan in September 2023.
In the viral screenshot of the post with the graphic itself, we can see the date below as April 14, 2023. Taking a hint from that, we found the original post which was posted by the X handle Startup Pakistan (@PakStartup).
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We ran a keyword search with the viral quote and the search results showed that it was not a recent statement by the former Pakistani cricketer. Miandad had made the controversial statement when he was asked on Pakistani YouTuber Nadir Ali's podcast whether the Indian cricket team should visit Pakistan to which he responds "yes" and on being further asked about security concerns raised by the Indian side he responds saying, "Dont worry about security, because we believe if death has to come, it will come, I believe life and death is in the hands of Allah."
This can be seen from the 49.48 minutes timestamp in the below video posted on April 12, 2023.