India and Pakistan players set to unite in Afro-Asia cup reboot

India and Pakistan match-ups are money-spinning machines when it comes to cricket. The International Cricket Council (ICC) cannot ignore the revenue boost that an Indo-Pak tie generates hence they have made sure that both teams face-off at least once in every global tournament.

The two nations have not played bilateral cricket ever since 2012-13 when Pakistan toured India for a white-ball series. Given the ongoing tension between the neighbours, it is unlikely that there will be a series soon.

According to a report published by Forbes, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is gearing up to reboot the Afro-Asia cup that could see players from India and Pakistan play together.

The matches will be played in a 20-overs format, which will take place sometime between June - July 2023.

Discussions over this will happen at next month's ICC Annual General Meeting, where representatives from the African Cricket Association (ACA) and the ACC will meet to discuss a pathway to the resumption of this much-loved event.

Confirming about the same, ACC head of events and commercial Prabhakaran Thanraj, said, “We haven’t got confirmation from the boards yet. We are still working on the white paper and it will be submitted to both boards.

“But our plan is for the best players from India and Pakistan to be playing in the Asian XI. Once plans are finalized we will go into market for sponsorship and a broadcaster.

Thanraj also works with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the marketing and sponsorship department.

Adding to Thanraj's views was AFA chairman Sumod Damodar, who sounded excited by the prospect of seeing Indian and Pakistani players side-by-side.

"I would love to see the opportunity to build the bridge and allow the players to play together. I'm sure the players want it to happen and to keep the politics away from it. It would be a beautiful thing to see players from Pakistan and India playing on the same team," he added.

The ACC and AFA hope to develop cricket across Africa and Asia by introducing similar tournaments at the Under-16 and Under-19 levels as well.

The last time the tournament was organised was back in 2007, which saw the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, and Rahul Dravid play together.

The ODI and T20I legs were both won by Asia XI.

Only two editions of the Afro-Asia Cup have been played so far.