International Cricket Council (ICC) is mulling comeback of the Afro-Asia Cup after a long gap of 16 years. Players from arch-rivals India and Pakistan are set to play together in the tournament.
As per ICC sources, former India captain Virat Kohli and Pakistan captain Babar Azam are all set to take part in this competition.
The competition will take place in 2023 after the Indian Premier League season. The tournament will be reportedly played in T20 format. It was last played in 2007.
“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 finalised we will go into market for sponsorship and a broadcaster. It will be a massive event. Really, really big,” said ACC head of commercial and events Prabhakaran Thanraj.
MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag were the top Indian cricketers who took part in the Afro-Asia Cup in 2007. Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf and Mohammad Asif were in the playing XI for Asia XI.
Mahela Jayawardene-led Asia XI had won all three games of the three-match ODI series against Africa XI captained by Justin Kemp.
If the Afro-Asia Cup materialises, it will be one of the rarest moments for cricket fans across the globe to see their favourite players from rival countries play together.
Notably, India and Pakistan face each other only in ICC events and Asia Cups. Both the countries have not played bilateral series from 2012-13.