While a lot of franchise-based tournaments take place around the world every year, people still dream of seeing star cricketers from arch-rivals India and Pakistan playing together. However, there is finally a glimmer of hope! Top players from both the teams could feature in the same team!
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is planning to host Afro-Asia Cup next year. The tournament sees players from Asian and African nations rub shoulders against each other.
The tournament was played in 2005 and 2007 before it was scrapped due to political and broadcasting issues. However, the tournament, once again, is expected to see daylight. The organisers are planning to resume the tournament in a T20 format. It’s likely to be played in June-July next year, as per the latest reports.
“We haven’t got confirmation from the boards yet. We are still working on the white paper and it will be submitted to both boards,” ACC head of commercial and events Prabhakaran Thanraj told Forbes.
“But our plan is for the best players from India and Pakistan to be playing in the Asian XI. Once plans are finalized we will go into the market for sponsorship and a broadcaster.”
“I would love to see the opportunity to build the bridge and allow the players to play together. I’m sure the players want it to happen and to keep the politics away from it. It would be a beautiful thing to see players from Pakistan and India playing on the same team,” said Damodar, who is on the influential Chief Executives’ Committee.
So, it means players like Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Jasprit Bumrah could all be part of the same team.