PALLEKELA: With just a month remaining for the 50-over World Cup, two fierce rivals on the cricket field, India and Pakistan, are showing signs of bonhomie. For the first time in 15 years, Indian cricket board officials got to cross the Attari border to the Pakistani side on Monday.
It is quite a coincidence that India played their last match on Pakistan soil during the Asia Cup in 2008. Though India is participating this time, their board (BCCI) did not allow the team to play in Pakistan. The BCCI, however, did honour the Pakistan Cricket Board’s invitation and allowed two of its senior office-bearers to visit Lahore on Monday.
Even as rain continued to batter India matches in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, BCCI president Roger Binny and vice-president Rajeev Shukla reached Lahore after crossing the Attari-Wagah border. The duo will watch the Group B match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on Tuesday followed by a Super Four match the next day. Pakistan last hosted India for a bilateral series in 2006.
“Pakistan is the host of the Asia Cup. The visit by this delegation is purely cricketing and there is no politics involved. It is a two-day visit and the Governor of Punjab is hosting us for dinner and all three teams Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be present. We shouldn’t mix cricket with politics,” Shukla, also a Rajya Sabha MP of Congress, was quoted as saying in Amritsar.
Shukla was part of the BCCI delegation that visited Pakistan for the historic ‘Friendship Series’ in 2004.
Speaking on the chances of a resumption of the Indo-Pak series, Shukla said: “The decision on bilateral series is taken by the Indian government and we would follow whatever the government suggests.” According to reports, former India player Binny recalled his last visit to Pakistan. “I last visited Pakistan in 2006 when I was a part of ACC. Pakistan’s hospitality has been very, very good.”