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LAHORE: Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq on Saturday said that the bilateral series between Pakistan and India must be resumed and insisted that politics should be kept away from sports activities.
The high-profile bilateral series, scheduled to be held in the UAE in December this year, remains in the doldrums because the present BJP government in India has not yet given a formal go-ahead to its cricket board to play any bilateral series against Pakistan.
The series has been stalled since 2007 amid political tension between the two countries and armed skirmishes along their international border and the Line of Control.
Misbah, who earlier announced that the bilateral series against India might be his last Test assignment before announcing the retirement from the longest version, said the series between the two countries must be revived.
“I have said on many occasions that the two countries must play each other, keeping the politics away from sports. People of the two countries always love to see cricket between their teams and they are missing it,” Misbah said while talking to media at a function of the University of Punjab.
Urging India not to mix politics with sports, the Pakistan skipper said both the countries should now end a long wait in this regard and move forward to play cricket.
The chances however seem remote that India will allow its team to play the bilateral series against Pakistan. Furthermore, apparently there is no plan ‘B’ available with the PCB, if the series against India is not held.
Earlier, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan had said that he had a plan ‘B’ if India did not play Pakistan in December. The plan has not been announced yet.
On Friday, Afridi in his media talk at the Gaddafi Stadium while criticising India’s cold-shouldered attitude towards the bilateral series had urged the country’s cricket authorities not to run after India for the series. The experienced all-rounder had said that if India didn’t want to play with his country there were several other teams interested to compete with Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2015
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