 "Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar had recently appeared on the DP World Dressing Room show. image credit: YouTube screengrab")
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar emphasised on “peace at the borders” as a prerequisite for the resumption of bilateral cricket between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. Gavaskar made the comments during his recent appearance on the DP World Dressing Room show alongside Pakistan pace legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis as well as former India cricketers Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra.
“Frankly, by having peace at the borders. 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 with talking,’” Gavaskar said on the show in response to a question from host Fakhr-e-Alam.
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Gavaskar acknowledged that there might be some “back-channel” discussions going on between the two nations, but maintained that the two nations weren’t likely to play bilateral cricket regularly the way they did during the 2000s unless border skirmishes came to an end.
“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,” the ‘Little Master’ added.
Pakistan’s limited-overs tour of India in the 2012-13 season remains the last time the two fierce rivals played bilateral cricket, with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 playing a key role in severing Indo-Pak cricketing ties. While the two-match T20I series ended in a 1-1 stalemate, Pakistan won the ODI leg of the tour 2-1.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe two South Asian neighbours face each other in ICC events as well as in the Asia Cup – their most recent meeting being the Champions Trophy Group A clash in Dubai on Sunday that the Men in Blue ended up winning by six wickets .
India and Pakistan are scheduled to face each other in the Asia Cup later this year as well, with the format of the tournament creating the possibility of the two teams meeting each other thrice.