Waqar Younis believes playing cricket regularly will help reduce tensions between India and Pakistan

Waqar is hopeful of resumption of India-Pakistan bilateral ties in December

Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis is hopeful that the India’s tour of Pakistan, scheduled to be hosted by the UAE later this year will go ahead as planned, The Express Tribune reports. The former pace bowler added that though the series is in serious danger of being called off, resumption of cricket ties will only improve the relations between the two countries.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU0 signed between the BCCI & PCB last year, India and Pakistan are set to compete against each other over six series in the next eight years. The first of those tours, which was set to include three Tests, five ODI’s and two T20’s has been scheduled for December this year.

The future of the series was thrown into serious doubt however following the Gurudaspur terrorist attacks in July, with BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur stating that cricket and terrorism cannot go hand-in-hand. PCB chief Shaharyar Khan wrote a letter to Thakur to seek clarification on the possibility of the series going ahead and a final decision on the same is expected later this month.

“I remain optimistic that this series will take place because I firmly believe that playing regular bilateral series can help reduce the tensions in the relations between the two countries,” said Waqar, as reported by the Press Trust of India. “The present situation between both countries means the coming series is in danger, but I remain hopeful that eventually the series will happen in December.”

Pakistan legends like Wasim Akram & Inzamam-Ul-Haq as well as Test skipper Misbah-Ul-Haq had voiced their opinion already calling for the series to be held despite the political issues between India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan last played each other in a Test match in 2007, a stat which troubles Waqar big time.

“More than anything the fact that we have not played a Test in the last eight years is really disappointing,” he said. “But I think this is the best chance now for both countries to resume bilateral cricket matches. If the series doesn’t take place it would be most unfortunate for cricket on a whole because everyone wants to watch an Indo-Pak match.”

Waqar voices his opinion on Saeed Ajmal & returning trio

Waqar acknowledged that Ajmal has been having a tough time after returning to cricket with a remodelled action

Waqar also talked about the future of Saeed Ajmal who has found his return to international cricket after remodelling his action a tough experience. Yasir Shah has replaced Ajmal as the team’s premier spinner and the latter was demoted to Category B in the list of contracted players released recently by the PCB.

Ajmal dismissed talks of retirement and has vowed to continue his push for a return to the national team selection & Waqar acknowledged that it’s been a tough time off late for Ajmal.

“It has been difficult for him after remodelling his bowling action and I think it will take some more time before he is effective again with his new action,” Waqar said.

He also refused to clarify on the futures of the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif whose spot-fixing bans expired recently.

“Their bans have just been lifted and I have not had any chance of talking to any board official about this. Maybe after a week or two I would be in a better position to comment on this,” he said.