India, Pak Match Soon? Cricket Comes Up In S Jaishankar’s Islamabad Visit

Cricket featured as a talking point between S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar during an official lunch hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad, sources said.

Mr Jaishankar and Mr Dar, who sat next to each other during the lunch, held only informal talks over cricket and there was no formal discussion over resumption of cricketing ties, sources added. This was the first direct conversation since 2015 between the two countries’ foreign ministers.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi was also present at the dinner meet, sources said.

While the exact content of the talks is not known, sources said that Pakistan wants India to send its team for the ICC Champions Trophy, set to be hosted by the neighbouring nation next February. Top officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board had recently told the PCB that organising the Champions Trophy without India will be meaningless since it will impact the ICC’s revenue.

India has not played any match in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup due to tensions between the two countries arising out of the Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan has made three tours to India since 2008 but India hasn’t sent its team to Pakistan due to security concerns.

Mr Jaishankar was in Islamabad for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting of Heads of Governments, which marked the first Pakistan visit by an Indian foreign minister since 2015.

During his visit, Mr Jaishankar met Prime Minister Sharif at the multilateral event but did not hold any bilateral with Pakistan. Mr Jaishankar had clarified that India-Pakistan ties won’t feature during his Islamabad visit since it was for the SCO summit.

At the SCO summit, he delivered a strong and veiled message aimed at Pakistan, stating that cooperation in areas like trade is unlikely to flourish if cross-border activities are characterised by terrorism.