The news of India finally agreeing to play Pakistan has been flashed across our media with great happiness and euphoria. People from all walks of life are hailing it as a major breakthrough. Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, is holding it up as a glorious reward for months of dedicated and painstaking efforts. But not everyone is falling for the hype, and some of us have been left scratching our heads if all the fuss is really worth it.

Cricket is supposed to be exciting, enjoyable, and fun. But playing cricket with India has ceased to be any of these things. The brutal truth is that Pakistan and India are far more than just sporting arch rivals; the hostile relationship between the two countries extends to many other spheres of life. We spare no attempt to criticise and demonise each other. We keep trying to out-manoeuvre each other in geopolitics and other global arenas. With this background, Indo-Pak cricket can hardly be seen as an entertaining pastime.

One really has to marvel at Ashraf’s ability to fool himself. He has received little more than scraps from the Indian cricket board. Their offer of accommodating Pakistan for a handful of limited-overs matches on Indian soil in December this year, during a break from India’s full series against England, is like a measly bone tossed towards the PCB. Seen from the Pakistan viewpoint, there is hardly anything in it.

In fact, the Indians were obliged to tour Pakistan, but they have been refusing to do so ever since the political climate worsened after the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. The PCB has repeatedly asked its Indian counterpart to play the series on neutral soil, as Pakistan has done over the last two years with South Africa, England, and Sri Lanka due to the poor security situation at home, but the Indians declined that as well. In a last ditch effort, the Pakistanis requested if revenue from the proposed December series could be shared, in order to compensate the PCB for what in principle is Pakistan’s home series. The Indians refused that too.

As a sporting spectacle, India-Pakistan cricket is overrated. Yes, there are top-notch players on both sides and some truly high-quality cricket is bound to ensure if the two teams meet on the field. But the contest must take place in a convivial environment and with the proper spirit of a sporting encounter, otherwise there is a bitter edge to everything and the sporting ethos of the activity is negated.

There is also the fact that despite all the crises and controversies, Pakistan is not really hurting for quality international cricket. Within the last 12 months alone, we have hosted Sri Lanka and England in the UAE, visited Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for bilateral series, and participated in the Asia Cup in Dhaka. We have not played India in a bilateral series since December 2007, and we haven’t really missed it. For Pakistan, the coming months are packed as well. Next month there is a six-match limited-overs series against Australia in the UAE, followed by the world T20 championship in Sri Lanka in September, and a comprehensive tour to South Africa later in the year.

It is ironic that cricket often gets touted as a vehicle for diplomacy between Pakistan and India, when in fact it has proved to be quite the opposite. If you examine the subcontinent’s post-1947 history, cricket has never led to a thaw in India-Pakistan relations; rather, it has merely served as an indication from time to time that relations have improved. If anything, cricket has been used as a stick for India to beat Pakistan with. We all know the routine: something bad happens, and the first and immediate Indian reaction is to snap cricket ties with us.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating a cessation of cricket relations with India. Cricket between India and Pakistan has resulted in many unforgettable matches, and ideally there should be a regular and uninterrupted schedule of fixtures between the two teams on terms that are mutually acceptable to the authorities of both nations. India and Pakistan should even go around the world and play each other in places such as North America and the Far East, which are dominated by the South Asian Diaspora and where such fixtures could do wonders for local promotion of the game. But we must become genuine friends first, because none of this is fun if we continue to be enemies.