The Centre rejected reports on cricket featuring in talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar in Islamabad. The Ministry of External Affairs in its briefing said the “reports are not accurate”.
Reports surfaced that Mr Jaishankar and Mr Dar talked about a possible India-Pakistan cricket match soon. This was the first direct conversation since 2015 between the two countries’ foreign ministers. The two cricketing rivals have not played any bilateral series since 2012 when Pakistan toured India for a T20I and ODI series.
Meanwhile, India has not played any match in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup due to tensions between the two countries arising out of the Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan has made three tours to India since 2008 but India hasn’t sent its team to Pakistan due to security concerns.
The two teams have played against each other in ICC tournaments in India and abroad, but Pakistan wants India to send its team for the ICC Champions Trophy, set to be hosted by the neighbouring nation next February.
Top officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board had recently told the PCB that organising the Champions Trophy without India will be meaningless since it will impact the ICC’s revenue.
Mr Jaishankar was in Islamabad for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting of Heads of Government, which marked the first Pakistan visit by an Indian foreign minister since 2015.
During his visit, Mr Jaishankar met Prime Minister Sharif at the multilateral event but did not hold any bilateral with Pakistan. Mr Jaishankar had clarified that India-Pakistan ties won’t feature during his Islamabad visit since it was for the SCO summit.
At the SCO summit, he delivered a strong and veiled message aimed at Pakistan, stating that cooperation in areas like trade is unlikely to flourish if cross-border activities are characterised by terrorism.
