Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to let cricket happen between two neighbouring countries. Due to political relations between the two countries, both teams have not played in bilateral contests for more than a decade now. They last played a bilateral series way back in 2012 when the Men in Green toured India for three ODIs and as many T20Is. However, India and Pakistan clashed against each other in the ICC and ACC tournaments in the past few years but the fans miss the excitement of bilateral contests between two arch-rivals.
“I will request Modi sahab to let cricket happen between both countries," Afridi said on the sidelines of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) in Doha, as per Indian Express.
The two boards are once again in a tussle regarding the Asia Cup 2023 as Pakistan got the hosting rights for
the multi-nation tournaments. However, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the Asian Cricket Council chairman, last year announced that India won’t travel to the neighbouring country for the Asia Cup which put PCB in a tricky stage.
Afridi further advised that being a very strong board BCCI should not make more enemies.
“What can we do if we want to befriend someone and he does not talk to us? There is no doubt that the BCCI is a very strong board, but when you are strong, you have more responsibility. You don’t try to make more enemies, you need to make friends. When you make more friends, you become stronger," Afridi said.
Talking about the PCB, Afridi, who recently served as interim selector, said it is not a weak board.
“I would not say weak, but some answers came from the front (BCCI) as well".