India-Pakistan clashes on the field should be restored: Farokh Engineer

Former Indian cricketer, Farokh Engineer feels that India-Pakistan clashes on the cricket field should be restored for the betterment of the sport. One of India‘s greats termed it a delicate and critical situation, as both the arch-rivals have not met each other in a bilateral series since 2012.  However, the veteran feels that it all depends on the government as it is a political matter now.

The Indo-Pakistan bilateral series has been postponed or cancelled many times in the past few years, due to conflicting relations between the two nations. Engineer also pointed out that both India and Pakistan were the same people before the British rule in 1947 partition. The India-Pakistan rivalry always attracts a lot of viewership and craze among the millions of cricket fans all over the world.

No cricket until relations are restored

Both the teams have not faced each other in the longest format for a long period of almost a decade now. Farokh stated that the final decision-making depends on the government now, as cricketing relations cannot be restored till there is an improvement in political relations.

“It’s a delicate situation there, it´s up to the government really. They are saying we are having border clashes with Pakistan all the time and it just wouldn´t make sense playing cricket until relations are restored,” he was quoted by AFP.

“I am all for relations being restored because basically we are the same people — it´s the British government in 1947 who created the partition, but who am I to judge that? I like to leave that to the politicians,” Engineer added.

Never played a Test series

The former Indian cricketer also revealed that due to the war-like situations between the two cricket playing nations, he has never played a single Test match series against Pakistan in his career. “All the years I played India-Pakistan were at war and never actually played a Test series,” said the 48-Test veteran.