Cricketing ties between India and Pakistan back on the radar

India and Pakistan to reignite rivalry

Good news is around the corner for Indian and Pakistani cricket fans alike if media reports emerging from Pakistan are to be believed. As per a report in the Associated Press of Pakistan, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been given the go-ahead, from the newly elected Indian government, to play a full series against Pakistan.

The series is likely to take place in December 2015 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a venue which has been frowned upon by the BCCI, in recent years, as a result of the match-fixing saga in 2000. But the BCCI, recently, seems to have had a change of heart on the UAE, as a venue, after deciding to host the early part of the 2014 Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE.

“The PCB is hopeful that a final shape would be given by the BCCI to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between both the Boards,” a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official is reported to have said.

The series due to take place in December 2015 between the two countries is expected to be only the start of at least six home-and-away Test series between the two nations, as per the next eight-year International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tours Programme (FTP) cycle between 2015 and 2023.

The main reason for the hiatus in cricketing relations between the eternal rivals, in recent times, was the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, which resulted in a stand-off between the two governments. But the newly elected governments, in both India and Pakistan, have decided to put past events behind them and start afresh.