What’s the story?
Outgoing Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan challenged India to take on Pakistan in a bilateral series and took a jibe at their cross-border rivals claiming that the Men in Blue might be unwilling to accept the invitation as they are scared following the loss to Pakistan in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy.
“After our win, we challenge India to come and play bilateral cricket with us. They don’t play us, they are scared of our team. They say we’ll play you in ICC matches but they won’t play us otherwise,” Khan was quoted as saying during the felicitation ceremony hosted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad.
The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side’s emphatic win over the Men in Blue has been a huge boost to Pakistan’s efforts to bring back the sport to a nation which has not seen much international cricket being played following the 2009 terrorist attack against the visiting Sri Lankan team.
The 83-year-old is hopeful that teams will start visiting Pakistan and wants the team to build on the victory against India to herald a new era in their cricket history.
“We are in negotiations with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies. They can send their teams first for a short tour, maybe for just T20Is,” he said. “We need to build on this victory. It’s not enough, we need to go a lot further.”
In case you didn’t know...
The PCB has been at loggerheads with the Board of Control for Cricket in India ever since the latter pulled out of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the boards following cross-border terrorist activities.
Though the two sides played out a short limited-overs series in 2012, they have not played a bilateral Test series since the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
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The heart of the matter
Heading into the 2017 Champions Trophy as the lowest ranked among the eight teams competing for the title, Pakistan got off to the worst possible start with a heavy defeat against India in the opening match.
However, the young side scripted a remarkable comeback with victories over South Africa and Sri Lanka in the group stages to secure a semi-final spot against pre-tournament favourites England, completely outplaying the hosts before another dominating performance against India in the final.
The Champions Trophy success has given a huge boost to Pakistan’s prospects for welcoming back international cricket to the nation which has been at the centre of security concerns for a long time now.
Pakistan have been playing their home matches in the UAE with even the Pakistan Super League (PSL) being held away from the nation with foreign national expressing their concern at the security situation in the country.
Shaharyar Khan is confident that the Champions Trophy success will now persuade the teams to head to Pakistan and hopefully see the resumption of normal cricket ties.
What’s next?
A 3-match T20 series has already been lined up between Pakistan and a World XI in Lahore later this year which the PCB expects to kick-start the resumption of international cricket in Pakistan. The PCB has invited ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar to the city as well to enhance the build up for the series.
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Author's take
The outgoing PCB chairman is known for his outrageous comments and his latest words follow the same pattern one has to say. There are obviously security concerns which need to be dealt with before international cricket resumes in Pakistan and when it comes to Indo-Pak cricket, things become a more lot complicated with the cross-border terrorism involved.
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