“Bilkul khelni chahidi hai”: Harbhajan Singh calls for India-Pakistan bilateral series on neutral venues despite political differences between the countries

Harbhajan Singh calls for India-Pakistan series on neutral venues in a bid to improve the political tensions between the two countries.

Pakistan have been bundled up at a rather modest total of 147 in 19.5 Overs, in the ongoing opening ‘Group A’ match against their arch-rivals India at the Dubai International Stadium.

The Indian pace bowling unit, for the time ever in T20I history, managed to pick all the ten opposition wickets, as they deployed the short-pitched deliveries with good effect to dismiss at least five of their top and middle-order batters.

The ongoing high-octane clash is the first international assignment between the two countries since the 2021 T20 World Cup, as since 2012-13, they haven’t faced each other in bilateral series due to the political differences.

Harbhajan Singh calls for India-Pakistan series

Ahead of the ongoing first match of the tournament between the two countries, former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh called for a resumption in the India-Pakistan bilateral series, having last taken place in 2012-13 in a three-match each ODI and T20I series in India.

Harbhajan seemed to be quite happy with the manner players from both the countries met each other wearing smiles on their faces, while also involving in friendly banter of sorts, and in particular the meet-up of the star batters Virat Kohli and Babar Azam.

He opined that Cricket can bind and improve the relations between both the countries, and bilateral series should be conducted at neutral venues like Dubai, if not in India or Pakistan, as they presently just face each other during continental (Asia Cup) and global (ICC) tournaments.

“Of course they (bilateral series) should take place. Relations will definitely improve once Cricketing action resumes between the two countries. I understand that the political tensions and differences presently have meant that teams cannot travel and play in each other’s soils, but a conduction of the same in the Dubai Stadium, or the some other neutral venue, will not only be good overall for the sport of Cricket, but also for both India and Pakistan,” remarked Harbhajan while interacting with the members of the press.

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