Pakistani presenter Zainab Abbas, who was a part of the ICC digital staff masking the Cricket World Cup 2023, broke her silence for the primary time since leaving India after going through backlash on social media over her alleged anti-India posts prior to now. “I have always felt extremely fortunate and grateful for the opportunities to travel and present the sport I love – this one would have been extra special,” Zainab mentioned in a press release on X, previously generally known as Twitter. Abbas additionally made it clear that neither was she deported nor was she requested to depart from India.

“I was neither asked to leave nor was I deported,” she additional added within the assertion.

pic.twitter.com/gwwpdIRh2u

— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) October 12, 2023

Zainab left India from Hyderabad the place she was deputed to cowl Pakistan’s three Cricket World Cup video games within the metropolis. The 35-year-old was current on the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad for Pakistan’s World Cup opener towards the Netherlands on October 6.

Posts from her unverified X account, previously Twitter, had gone viral after she introduced that she can be masking the ICC mega occasion in India.

As hypothesis on social media intensified over her departure from India in the midst of the event, the International Cricket Council clarified that Zainab was not deported from the host nation.

“Zainab has not been deported, she has left for personal reasons,” an ICC spokesperson instructed PTI. The presenter, who arrived in Hyderabad final week, was presupposed to journey to cities the place Pakistan are scheduled to play, together with Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Former Pakistan gamers Rameez Raja and Waqar Younis are in India as a part of the commentary panel for the ODI showpiece, which started on October 5 and can finish on November 19.

(With PTI inputs)