Pakistan shouldn’t play any bilateral cricket series with India until the long standing border unrest between the two countries is settled, former pacer Shoaib Akhtar said.
Former Pakistan speed star Shoaib Akhtar said until the long-running border unrest between India and Pakistan gets over Pakistan Cricket Board should not resume the bilateral series.
As per ICC’s Future program, a series comprising of three Tests, five One Day Internationals and two Twenty 20 matches between the two neighbouring countries is scheduled in the United Arab Emirates in December.
The fate of the series is now vague as talks between the two countries on contentious issues stalled. The situation became even tenser with the invasion of terrorists from Pakistan and rampant cross-border firing.
Akhtar said these pressing problems should be addressed first, which is why the series should be called off. The two countries haven’t faced each other in a bilateral series since 2007.
“Everybody knows to keep politics separate from the sport,” he was quoted as saying by Gulfnews on Thursday.
“But unfortunately, there’s a lot of unrest on the borders and it’s not right to play such a Test between the two countries at this time. However, I would encourage that, whenever the unrest settles and whenever India and Pakistan are ready to talk again at the highest level, cricket would be the perfect way to bridge relations.”
“They are still two of the best teams in the world and neither can avoid each other if you want to keep cricket interesting. You cannot ignore that the rarest of talent comes out of these countries and that people love to see them play against each other,” he added.
In recent times whenever PCB requested BCCI for this series, the Indian cricket governing body said cricket ad terrorism can’t continue at the same time. The series is not officially called off, but at this juncture the series is unlikely to happen.