Afro Asian Cup 2023: If all goes well, cricketers from India and Pakistan could be seen playing in the team in the reboot season of the Afro-Asia Cup in mid-2023.
The Afro-Asia Cup was not played after 2005 and 2007, while India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012/13 and have not come face to face in a Test series since 2007.
Babar-Kohli will be seen playing together
Both the teams now face each other only in ICC tournaments except the World Test Championship (WTC). According to a report in Forbes.com, players from India and Pakistan may play in the same team with the Afro-Asia Cup returning to the T20 format in June-July 2023. Nothing has been confirmed about when and where the tournament will take place.
Tournament will happen after years
But discussions are on for this between BCCI’s honorary secretary Jay Shah, African Cricket Association’s new president Sumod Damodar and ACC chairman of the development committee Mahinda Vallipuram, who is also an associate member director on the ICC board.
The ICC Board meeting is going to be held in April this year. The report said, ‘We are yet to get confirmation from the boards. We are still working on the white paper and it will be handed over to both the boards.
But we plan to play in the Asian XI for the best players from India and Pakistan. Once the plans are finalized we will go to the market for sponsorship and a broadcaster. It will be a big tournament.
Indo-Pak players will be in playing 11
Damodar also feels the same about the possibility of bringing players from India and Pakistan together under the Afro-Asia Cup. “I would love to see an opportunity to build bridges and allow players to play together,” he said. I am sure the players want this to happen and keep politics out of it. It will be a beautiful thing to see the players of Pakistan.
The report further states that there are plans to make the Afro-Asia Cup an annual event and give opportunities to players from allied countries.
In addition to this tournament to qualify for the ACC Asia Cup, proceed by introducing Under 16, Under 19 Afro-Asia Cup, Under 19 Women’s Asia Cup, Under 13 and Under 16 Asia Junior Cup and ACC West and East Cup for Associates wants.