Amid Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja being vocal of India traveling to Pakistan for next year’s Asia Cup 2023 is doing rounds in the media, India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said that there will be no cricketing ties between India and Pakistan in the near future. The two countries have not played a full fledged series against each other since the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai by a Pakistan-based terrorist organization. The two rivals squared off in a short T20 and ODI series in India in 2012-13, however they have been regularly playing each other in the Asia Cup and ICC tournaments.
“Tournaments keep coming and you are aware of the government’s stand. Let’s see what happens. It is a complicated issue. Will you talk to me if I put a gun on your head? If your neighbour aids terrorism out in the open and there is no mystery about who the leaders are, where the camps are. We should never think that cross-border terrorism is normal. Give me another example where one neighbour is sponsoring terrorism against another. There is no such example. In a way, this is not even abnormal, but exceptional,” Aaj Tak quoted EAM S Jaishankar as saying.
Its worth mentioning that the two countries squared off in a test match way back in 2007 in Bengaluru which resulted in a draw. The 3rd match of the series was played from 8-12 December and since then the two teams have only seen each other in the white ball format. With England leading the three match test series 2-0 against Pakistan has put a full stop on Babar Azam’s side making the finals of next year’s world test championships final.
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BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed in October that the next year’s Asia Cup will move to a neutral venue as India will not travel to Pakistan for the marquee Asian event which didn’t go well with PCB chairman Ramiz Raja. He said that Pakistan may withdraw from the tournament if hosting rights are snatched away from them. He also stressed that the men in green may opt to withdraw from the world cup which is scheduled in India next year, if the men in blue refuse to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.
EAM S Jaishankar’s comment is an indication from the government that bilateral cricketing ties against Pakistan won’t be resumed and its also a strong indication that the government won’t send Indian team to Pakistan in the near future.
