When India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met and shook hands at the global summit on Climate Change in Paris recently, the fans of the international game from the two neighbouring nations hoped that they might just get to see a bilateral series between India and Pakistan in Sri Lanka later this month.
It all depends on the Indian PM now as he will take the final call on whether India will travel to Sri Lanka to play a short limited-over series against Pakistan or not.
Meanwhile, sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal has spoken in support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) initiative to play with Pakistan later this month.
"Whatever initiative the BCCI is taking, it needs to be supported by us. The BCCI has always been taking the initiatives for the promotion of games and also for the promotion of relationship," Sonowal was quoted as saying by ANI on Tuesday.
Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif is a fan of cricket and his love for the game urged him to give a green signal to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the much-talked-about series against India.
Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Rajeev Shukla had stated earlier that it is not nice to involve the game of cricket into political and diplomatic issues. He had also stated that Sri Lanka has been chosen as the neutral venue for this much-awaited series.
"India-Pakistan series will happen tentatively from December 15 in Sri Lanka which will mark the resumption of cricketing ties between the two sides," Shukla had told the reporters last week.
The last time these two sides played a series was back in 2012-2013 when Pakistan had come down to India to play three ODIs and two T20 internationals. According to the MoU signed by the two Boards, Pakistan is supposed to host India for a series. But the fate of this series still hangs in the middle of nowhere.
The stage is set for yet another classic encounter between the arch-rivals, but the fans will only get to witness the series if PM Narendra Modi gives a go ahead to BCCI.
