Edgbaston ready to host India-Pakistan bilateral series

Two cricket frenzy nations gear up for the mother of all contests as India take on Pakistan in yet another ICC Tournament. While India have ruled the roosts in the World Cup, Paksitan have a superior head to head record(2-1) in the Champions Trophy. But India would take heart from the fact that they managed to egg out Pakistan the last time they played this event(and in the same country as well).

With political tension brimming in these two nations and the Indian government staying firm on their decision of not getting involved in a bilateral series, these ICC tournaments might be the only forum that these two sides would come together.

With Edgbaston preparing itself for the big encounter, Warwickshire chief executive ,Neil Snowball, said that the tickets for the Indo-Pak encounter could have been sold out 6 times over. Snowball then went onto say that Edgbaston would be up for hosting a bilateral series between the two nations.

“We have the experience of handling it. It is not the sort of game you can take anywhere because it is a completely unique match with a completely unique collection of fans and atmosphere. If they wanted this game at a neutral venue, I would hope they would consider Edgbaston – we would be very interested in looking at that,” Snowball told BBC Sport.

While it is a very novel thought from Snowball, cricketing ties between India and Pakistan won’t be possible until Pakistan takes the necessary steps against state sponsored terrorism.

India and Pakistan last faced off each other in a bilateral series in the 2012/13 season when Pakistan visited India for a series of 2 T20’s and 3 ODI’s.

About the author

Utkarsh Bhatla