Cricket News

India and Pakistan Cricketers may play together in Afro-Asia Cup

The star cricketers from India and Pakistan will soon be featuring in the same eleven as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) plans to revive Afro-Asia Cup. The one-day international series was first played in 2005. The series was played for two editions before being discontinued after 2007 as the relations between India and Pakistan took an ugly turn.

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene captained an Asia XI that also included players from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in the last edition, beating an African side, comprising cricketers from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya 3-0.  Mahela Jayawardene, MS Dhoni, and Shaun Pollock scored memorable hundreds in the series.

India and Pakistan don’t play bilateral series anymore and also don’t take part in the T20 leagues in each other’s countries. But the two nations have clashed against each other on various occasions in multi-national tournaments, leaving the fans asking for more cricketing action to take place between the two countries.

ACC President Jay Shah, also the secretary of the Indian Cricket Board, told Reuters that the Cup’s return may get confirmed soon at an ACC meeting next month.

“We have gone through some proposals on this subject,” he said.

“It is a premium tournament which will not only generate revenue but also help develop cricket in Africa. We are currently working on the legal aspects.”

“These will be tabled during our meeting where these measures will be ratified and put into action,” Shah added.

The ACC will look to identify a venue for the competition on the sidelines of the Apex cricket body’s annual general meeting in Birmingham, where it will also seek to ratify its development programmes for junior and women’s cricket.

“These will be tabled during our meeting where these measures will be ratified and put into action,” Shah added.

If the cup gets confirmed, fans will finally get to see their Asian stars together in a playing eleven, especially the likes of Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi,  Mohammad Rizwan etc.