Roger Binny and Rajeev Shukla praise Pakistan's hospitality after returning back to India

India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads over certain issues for decades. Cricket, which was considered a medium of establishing a friendly relationship between the two neighbouring countries, also took a backseat as the governments of the two countries have shown reluctance in sending their teams to their neighbouring country, and they only face each other in ICC or ACC events.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were unwilling to send their team to play in the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will be exclusively held in India for the first time. This was after India decided not to travel to Pakistan to play in the Asia Cup 2023. Eventually, matches in the Asia Cup were split between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, allowing India to play only in the island nation. Meanwhile, Pakistan agreed to make the trip to India to play the ODI World Cup.

The Asia Cup tournament began on August 30, with six teams competing for the coveted title. PCB invited BCCI President Roger Binny and Vice-President Rajeev Shukla to come to Pakistan and watch matches in the group stage of the tournament. Binny and Shukla accepted the invitation and travelled to Pakistan. They returned on Wednesday, September 6, via the Attari-Wagah border. The former India all-rounder praised Pakistan's hospitality, saying that they went out of their way to make their guests comfortable.

“We had a very good meeting in Pakistan. We received very good hospitality. They took care of us very well. The main agenda was to watch cricket and to sit and discuss things with them. Overall, it was a very good trip. Pakistan treated us very well. They went out of the way to make us comfortable," Binny was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

When asked about the possibility of resumption of bilateral ties between the two nations, Binny said that the decision rests with the Indian government and not BCCI, but he remained optimistic.

“BCCI can’t say. It is a government issue, and they will have to take a call. We need to wait and see. And hopefully, it will happen because the (ODI) World Cup is coming up, Pakistan team will be in India to play.”

The security was tremendous, all the arrangements were fabulous: Rajeev Shukla

Rajeev Shukla also lavished praise on PCB for treating him and Binny with the utmost care. He noted that cricket can be a medium for creating friendship and reminisced about India's tour of Pakistan in 2004.

“The meeting was very good. The Pakistan Cricket Board took very good care of us. The security was tremendous, all the arrangements were fabulous. It was a goodwill visit for cricket which went well.

“Cricket has always been an important medium even before. Take the 2004 tour, for example; the atmosphere that was created resulted in great friendship and trade delegations. The shopkeepers were not even taking money from people, that was a great atmosphere," Shukla said.