ISLAMABAD: The top official of Pakistan’s cricket regulatory body congratulated the people of India on Friday for arranging a reception for the World Cup squad of his country, saying Pakistani players had always been cordially received in the neighboring country.
Pakistan’s national cricket team arrived in India on Wednesday after a gap of seven years to participate in the upcoming ODI tournament in which teams from other cricket playing nations will also contest.
Political tensions between the two South Asian nuclear-armed states have kept them from playing bilateral cricket series against each other in over a decade. The two teams have only locked horns in global cricket tournaments at neutral venues.
The last time Pakistan played cricket on Indian soil was in 2016 when former captain Shahid Khan Afridi led the green shirts in the T20 World Cup.
Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee Zaka Ashraf said the “fantastic reception” of his country’s men’s cricket squad in India proved how the people in both states loved each other’s players.
“Whenever India and Pakistan step onto the cricket field, they emerge as traditional rivals but not as enemies,” he was quoted as saying in a PCB statement.
Ashraf expressed hope that throughout the tournament, Pakistan cricketers would receive the same warmth, and Indian fans would get to see the best cricket from Pakistan players.
The top PCB official described cricket as a sport that had always played a bridging role between the two countries, and cricketers from both nations remained loved by fans on both sides of the border.
“He expressed his desire for the restoration of bilateral cricketing relations between the two countries, allowing millions of cricket fans from both nations the opportunity to watch these players perform live,” the PCB statement said.
He hoped the Indian cricket team would also visit Pakistan soon, enabling the people of his country to reciprocate the warmth and love shown by Indians to the Pakistani cricket squad.