Amit Shah rules out Indo-Pak bilateral series in the near future

The president of the Bhartiya Janta Party, the ruling party in India Amit Shah has ruled out any possibility of the resumption of the bilateral cricketing relations between India and Pakistan any time soon while saying that the two countries would continue to play against each other in major ICC tournaments.

There has been the ever-lasting conflict between the two cricketing boards since the end of last year, with political tension prevailing between the two countries. The rival countries have tried to make several meetings possible only for either of the boards to leave with disagreement. As recent as in the last few months, the BCCI and the PCB met each other in the ICC meeting in Dubai where they could not come up with any resolution.

“India and Pakistan will continue to play at international tournaments but neither India plays in Pakistan nor Pakistan plays in India,” Shah, who heads the Gujarat Cricket Association, told reporters, a day ahead of the clash between the arch rivals in the Champions Trophy final in England.

India-Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2017 finals

India and Pakistan met each other in the Group B encounter at Edgbaston where India won the toss and asked Pakistan to bowl. Batting first, the team led by Virat Kohli set Pakistan a target of 318, which later was reduced due to the downpour. The Pakistani team failed to get off to a good start which reduced them to shambles.

They failed to get on par with the required run-rate as runs proved hard to come by against the vigilant Indian bowling unit, which restricted the batsmen bowling tight lines. Pakistan, however, bounced back from the loss with the consecutive victories over South Africa and Sri Lanka to reach the semi-finals of the tournament where they defeated the hosts England by eight wickets to set-up a re-match with India.

Men in Blue, on the other hand, bounced back from the loss against Sri Lanka to win their do-or-die encounter against South Africa and faced Bangladesh in the semi’s, and they sailed through with an easy victory. India would be eyeing to lift their third Champions Trophy title, while Pakistan looks set to grab their first CT title since it’s inception.