Imran bowls a bouncer at Sidhu, Kapil says duck it

Controversies erupted when former India opening batsman and currently a Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was spotted sitting beside Pakistan occupied Kashmir President Masood Khan during the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House) in Islamabad.

Controversies erupted when former India opening batsman and currently a Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was spotted sitting beside Pakistan occupied Kashmir President Masood Khan during the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House) in Islamabad.

Sidhu, the only Indian who travelled to Pakistan for the swearing-in ceremony, was allotted a seat in the first row beside the PoK president Masood Khan. This did not go down well with the India political experts, who termed the incident as ‘unwanted’ and an act of trying to place an Indian guest in a discomforting position. However, former India World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev came to Sidhu’s defence, appealing to look at the positives rather than picking out controversial elements.

“As a host Pakistan should have been more careful. These sort of unwanted acts only give rise to controversies,” said Vivek Katju, a former political diplomat to ABP News.

Sitting on the same panel, Kapil, a long-time friend of the new Pakistan PM Imran Khan, had a different point of view. “I don’t see it that way, rather I would like to look at the larger picture and avoid being negative,” Kapil told ABP News.

Kapil was of the opinion that Imran himself may not have known the protocol and India along with the whole world should allow him more time instead of jumping to conclusions.

“Changes do not happen overnight, it takes place over a period of time. So, we have to look at the positives and avoid such stroking such controversies.”

Sidhu was at first spotted embracing the Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa before the oath-taking ceremony began.

The former opening batsman was among three former India cricketers, the other two being Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to be invited for the swearing-in ceremony in Islamabad.