Yuvraj Singh, Shahid Afridi bat for bringing back bilateral India-Pakistan series

The prospects of a bilateral series between India and Pakistan look uncertain in today’s circumstances but former international players Yuvraj Singh and Shahid Afridi recently advocated such engagements between the two hostile neighbours.

The two countries have not met in a bilateral series since 2012-13 when Pakistan came to India to play in a three-match ODI series. India’s last visit to Pakistan was in 2006 when they played in a Test and ODI series. Since then, India and Pakistan have been playing more in multi-side tournaments like the World Cup and Asia Cup.

The two all-rounders, both of whom still play franchise cricket after retiring from international games, were at the Expo 2020 Dubai cricket tournament final. Both Yuvraj and Afridi stressed on the need to have more India-Pakistan games with Afridi even going to the extent of saying that the Asian arch-rivals’ competitiveness promises something more intense than the Ashes — cricket’s oldest rivalry between England and Australia.

Recently, the Pakistan Cricket Board dragged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to court for its alleged failure in honouring the MoU that was signed between the two administrative bodies over the scheduling of six bilateral series between the two neighbours between 2015 and 2023. However, the Indian board was little bothered since no action can be binding in this regard.

India-Pak series will be bigger than Ashes, feels Shahid Afridi

Speaking to Sport360, Afridi said: “I think, if India and Pakistan were to have a series, it will be something bigger than the Ashes. However, we don’t seem to get it. We are letting politics get in the way of people’s love for this sport and their wish to come together.”

“I think we need to put a few things behind us as well and so does India. We need to sit down together at a table and talk things out,” the former Pakistan captain who courted controversy in the past by making political statements, added.

He said that he has received a lot of love from India and the Indian players have also got affection from Pakistan and warned saying the connection should not be “severed”. Yuvraj, who quit international cricket last June, said: “Yes it has been on and off (bilateral cricket).”

“I remember playing against Pakistan in 2004, 2006 and 2008 in bilateral series. These days yeah, there has not been enough of that. But these things are not in our hands. We play cricket for the love of the sport. We cannot choose which country to play against ourselves. But what I can say is that the more India v Pakistan cricket there is, the better it is for the sport,” Yuvraj, who was the man of the series of the 2011 World Cup, said.

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