India captain Rohit Sharma has said it will be “awesome” to play against Pakistan in a Test series overseas.
In a chat with Club Prairie Fire podcast, co-hosted by Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan, Rohit said he would “love” India and Pakistan to resume playing bilateral cricket on a regular basis, something that has been put on hold since Misbah-ul-Haq’s team crossed the border to play a three-match ODI series in 2012-13.
“I totally believe that,” Rohit responded to Vaughan’s question on whether for the sake of the health of Test cricket it would be beneficial for both India and Pakistan to play overseas, considering the chances of playing in either country remain uncertain due to the political stasis, which has lasted for close to two decades. Since Pakistan toured India in 2007, a series Rohit still remembers, both teams have not played a complete bilateral series involving Tests and white-ball cricket.
Rohit said Pakistan are a “good” Test team with a strong bowling unit, which India would be keen to be pitted against. “They’re a good team. They have got a superb bowling line-up. So it’ll be a good contest especially if you play overseas conditions. That’ll be awesome.”
There have been several attempts made by administrators from both boards to resume bilateral cricket, including playing overseas in neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the UAE. In the recent years the England Cricket Board and Cricket Australia, too, have publicly voiced their interest in hosting the marquee series.
Rohit is the first major name in Indian cricket to publicly share his opinion on a topic that Indian cricket administrators have previously responded to by saying the call of resuming bilateral ties with Pakistan was subject to permission from Indian government. “Yeah, I would love to,” Rohit said responding to Vaughan’s query on whether as India Test captain he would want to play regularly against Pakistan outside of ICC tournaments.
“At the end of the day, we want to be in contest and I think it will be a great contest between the two sides. We anyway play them in ICC trophies, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s just pure cricket that I’m looking at. I’m not interested in anything else. It’s pure cricket, game between bat and ball. It’ll be a great contest.”
Meanwhile, Rain ultimately had the final say in the first T20I between Pakistan and New Zealand. The weather forecast was tricky all day, with intermittent rain forcing a half-hour delay in the toss. No sooner than the toss, which New Zealand won and elected to bat first, was held that the heavens opened again, forcing another lengthy delay that brought the game to the verge of being called off without a ball being bowled.
There was a glimmer of hope nearly three hours on, when a short pause in the rain allowed the ground to dry just about enough to ostensibly allow a 5-overs-a-side match, the shortest a T20 can be curtailed to. Shaheen Shah Afridi opened the bowling, and looked like his vintage best when he knocked back debutant Tim Robinson’s middle stump with a searing inswinger off the second ball.
However, that was as much action as the weather would permit, with a drizzle resuming almost instantly after. This time, there was no time to play with, and the umpires immediately called the game off, with the players shaking hands. As per PCB policy, ticket refunds won’t be issued to spectators because the toss did take place.
The unfortunate Robinson was one of four debutants in the match, with Pakistan handing T20I caps to Usman Khan, Irfan Khan and Abrar Ahmed.The second T20I will also be held in Rawalpindi, on Saturday.
