Indian, Pakistani Cricketers All Set To Team Up As Jay Shah Looks To Revive Asia vs Africa Matches

Cricket Image for Indian, Pakistani Cricketers All Set To Team Up As Jay Shah Looks To Revive Asia v (Image Source: AFP)

Imagine watching Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Jasprit Bumrah, Shaheen Afridi, and other big names of India and Pakistan teaming up and playing together. Sounds like a dream right? It isn't anymore as there are talks going on to revive the Asia vs Africa cup into the cricket calendar from next year. 

Asian Cricket Council (ACC) led by India’s governing body boss Jay Shah is looking to discuss the event with the ICC during the Annual General Meeting. The game is likely to be in the T20 format. 

The event has been of growing interest to the ACC, new chairman of African Cricket Association Sumod Damodar, and ACC chairman of development committee Mahinda Vallipuram, who is also an Associate Member director on the ICC board, as reported by Forbes. 

“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," ACC head of commercial and events Prabhakaran Thanraj told Forbes. 

“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 the market for sponsorship and a broadcaster. It will be a massive event. Really, really big.”

The last time Asia XI vs Africa XI was in 2007 when the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, and Rahul Dravid played together. 

"I would love to see the opportunity to build the bridge and allow the players to play together,” said Sumod Damodar. “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.”