India-Pakistan Could Be Bigger Than The Ashes: Shahid Afridi

Former India and Pakistan all-rounders Yuvraj Singh and Shahid Afridi have advocated the India-Pakistan bilateral series. India and Pakistan have not faced each other in a bilateral series since 2012-13. Their subsequent meetings have been restricted to multi-tournament events including the World Cup and Asia Cup.

Afridi and Yuvraj were present at the Expo 2020 Dubai Cricket Finale. Both of them have advocated a bilateral series between the two nations.

In the recent past, political tensions between these two countries have affected their cricketing relations to a great extent.

Recently, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dragged the BCCI to court for its alleged failure to honour the MoU signed between the two respective bodies for the scheduling of six bilateral series between India and Pakistan between 2015 and 2023.

However, no such action in this regard can be binding and thus, BCCI does not seem very troubled with it.

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Shahid Afridi Believes India-Pakistan Could Be The Greatest Game

“I think, if India and Pakistan were to have a series, it will be something bigger than the Ashes,” Afridi told Sport360.

He added, “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.”

Afridi shared that he has received a lot of love from India.

“People need to interact with one another and need to meet up with one another. I always tell everyone that I have really enjoyed my time in India and have gotten a lot of love from there. The same way, Indian players also get a lot of love from Pakistan. This connection and relation should not be severed,” the former Pakistan star all-rounder continued.

Yuvraj Singh Also Advocates A Bilateral Series

“Yes it has been on and off (bilateral cricket),” Yuvraj told Sport360.

“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,” he added.

In 2018 Asia Cup, India and Pakistan last faced off each other in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India won the game by nine wickets in Dubai. They could next meet in the 2020 Asia Cup which is scheduled to take place in September this year.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are the hosts of the tournament, but there is uncertainty over where the event will eventually take place given India’s reluctance to play in Pakistan.

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