Two of modern day cricket greats Virat Kohli and Babar Azam could play in same team as part of the Afro-Asia Cup 2023 reboot.
The prospect is mouth-watering especially given the lack of Indo-Pak cricket in recent memory. The Afro-Asia Cup could see players from both nations play alongside each other.
India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012-13 due to the political issues between the countries and haven’t faced off in a Test series since 2007.
But now according to a report on Forbes.com, players from India and Pakistan could be playing in the same team with the Afro-Asia Cup set to make a comeback in the T20 format in June-July 2023.
Discussions for the same are understood to be going on between BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah WHO, the new chairman of African Cricket Association Sumod Damodar, and ACC chairman of development committee Mahinda Vallipuram, who is also an Associate Member director on the ICC board, from the ICC Board Meeting in April this year.
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The Afro-Asia Cup is part of ACC’s revamp led by BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
“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. 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. It will be a massive event. Really, really big,” ACC head of commercial and events Prabhakaran Thanraj was quoted as saying in the report.
Damodar, too, feels the same about the prospect of getting India and Pakistan players in one team under the Afro-Asia Cup. “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.”
The plan is for the Afro-Asia Cup to become an annual fixture and also feature players from Associate nations. Since the last edition, teams like Afghanistan, UAE and Nepal have all stepped up in Asia, while Africa has seen the rise of Namibia in recent years.
The Afro-Asia Cup will feature one side with top players from the Asian continent while the opponents will have players from the African continent.
The tournament was last held in 2007 with MS Dhoni taking part in it. In its 2005 edition, Shahid Afridi joined hands with the likes of Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag on the same side.