Sunil Gavaskar declares India-Pakistan series impossible unless this condition is met

India National Cricket Team batting great Sunil Gavaskar has set a clear condition for the resumption of the India-Pakistan bilateral series.

Sunil Gavaskar stated that the India National Cricket Team and Pakistan National Cricket Team can engage in bilateral series against each other in the future if there is peace at the border.

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Why India don't play a bilateral series against Pakistan?

Team India don't play bilateral series against Team Pakistan due to the political tensions between the two countries. However, the two teams still lock horns with each other in the ICC and ACC events.

The most recent match between India and Pakistan was held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India National Cricket Team hammered the arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match and Virat Kohli won the Player of the Match award for his ton.

Notably, India have not traveled to Pakistan to play bilateral cricket since the 2005-06 season, but they visited the country during the Asia Cup 2008. Since then, the Men In Blue have totally stopped visiting Pakistan, but the Men In Green regularly traveled to India for multi-nation events till very recently.

However, now BCCI and PCB have entered an agreement according to which both the teams will not be traveling to each other's country in the ongoing broadcast cycle, and the ICC event matches will be held in a neutral venue. Notably, Pakistan last played a bilateral series in India in the 2012/13 season.

By frankly having peace at the borders - Sunil Gavaskar

Speaking on a show, Sunil Gavaskar said that peace at the border is the only way to the resumption of India-Pakistan bilateral ties.

"By frankly having peace at the borders... (How can India and Pakistan play a bilateral series?) It’s very simple. If there's peace at the borders, then I think both governments will certainly say, 'Look, okay, we've had no incidents, nothing at all. So let's at least start talking,'" Sunil Gavaskar said on Sports Central.

"I'm pretty certain there will be some back-channel connections going on. But you want to see what's happening both on the ground and off the ground because of the fact that there are incursions we hear about. That’s the reason why the Indian government is saying, 'Look, maybe until all that stops, we should not even look at having or talking about anything,'" he added

It’s a good thing that the England and Wales Cricket Board decided to go ahead and play - Sunil Gavaskar

Other than India-Pakistan political tensions, the situation in Afghanistan is a major topic of discussion in the cricket world. The Taliban government has banned the women in the country from playing cricket, as a result, Australia and England have boycotted the bilateral series against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team.

There were calls made by the politicians of England to reject playing against Afghanistan in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, but the Three Lions went ahead to play the game and faced a humiliating loss in the thriller.

When Sunil Gavaskar was questioned about England and Australia not boycotting Afghanistan in ICC events, the batting legend responded:

"It’s a good thing that the England and Wales Cricket Board decided to go ahead and play, and that is because whatever the government decides between themselves is another matter.

"Therefore, it was good that they eventually came and played. And, well, they lost. So maybe now if someone says, 'They knew they were going to lose to Afghanistan, that's why they didn't want to play against them.'"