The India-Pakistan cricket ties is always a welcome move and the people of India and Pakistan want to see their national teams play against each other. Th two Boards have signed an MoU to play at least six times between 2015-2023.
Advertisement
“It looks good if our grounds get revived, filled with crowds and our own players get the maximum benefit out of it”, the all-rounder added. “We have to work on the basic things and making them strong”, he said. “Why insist on playing with India?”, Afridi told reporters here on Friday.
The 35-year-old has said, “I don’t see any reason to play against India if they don’t want to play”. We have invited them and if they do not want to play, then it shouldn’t be a worry. We are still happy.
The last time both teams played a Test series was in 2007 when Pakistan toured India. “I want to play for Pakistan”.
The Peshawar outfit’s win was all the more heartening since they had lost some of their major players who normally represented them in the past but appeared for other teams notably Umar Gul, Younis Khan and Yasir Hameed under a free transfer window policy of the cricket board. Skipper Afridi has also stated that he will no longer be playing the T20 format after the tournament. The Pakistan Cricket Board had announced that the inaugural edition of the league would be held in Doha, Qatar in February 2016.
The tournament though proved to be a disappointment for all the favourite sides with top players including the Lahore Whites outfit which had the services of Muhammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Rawalpindi led by Sohail Tanvir.
“It would be great if PSL could have been held in Pakistan”, Afridi said.
In the wake of the Gurdaspur attack in July, Thakur had earlier ruled out the immediate resumption of stalled series against Pakistan, saying that one can not expect a cricket series amidst rising terrorist activities.
“Our cricket should be played within our own territory”.
But India has so far not replied and current political tension between the two countries, with frequent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region, has cast serious doubt over the first full series between them since 2007. I never underestimate any team especially in T20 format as once the game slips out of your hand it’s really hard to fight back.
“I will raise the issue in the next BCCI meeting but from what I understand is that the BCCI are not going to change their decision”. They are in form as a team.
After the completion of the two-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, Pakistan will play three One-Day Internationals between 1st and 5th October.
Advertisement
“We are getting ready and the series is permitting us to attempt many new faces forward of the World T20”.
