Former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has said that Indian fans want to see Pakistani cricketers as soon as possible especially on their very grounds as the bilateral ties between the two nation remains suspended for almost ten years now.
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Pakistan last toured India for a bilateral series back in January 2013 and both teams have played just once in India that was in 2016 T20 World Cup at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Asia Cup 2023 is supposed to take place in Pakistan, and if the tournament does go ahead as planned, then India would have travelled to the neighboring country after a gap of 16 years. However, this was not meant to be as BCCI secretary Jay Shah had declared that India would not travel to Pakistan for the tournament, and they are seeking a neutral venue as an alternative. This caused PCB chief Ramiz Raja to threaten to pull out of the ODI World Cup 2023 that will be played in India.
Coming back to Afridi, the former cricketer said Indian fans would like to welcome cricketers from across the border as they are big fans. “The relations between Pakistan and India have always improved due to cricket,” Afridi was quoted as saying by CricPakistan.com.
“Indians want to see Pakistan play cricket in India,” he added.
Afridi was not impressed with the PCB chairman’s comments and said the country has been hosting international matches for a long time and Raja’s statement shocked him.
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“The way Ramiz was speaking, I mean I was shocked to listen to him saying that we cannot make tracks like these. International matches have been going on in Pakistan for such a long time but then we say stuff like these. Ramiz said that he wanted a turning track I feel in this weather it would have been something big,” Afridi told Samaa TV.
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