‘Impossible right now’ – PCB chairman Ramiz Raja on revival of bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan

Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) newly-appointed chairman Ramiz Raja has a job in hand with several important fixtures coming up. While the World Test Championship is already underway, the T20 World Cup 2021 is just over a month away. Moreover, giants like Australia and England are set to travel to Pakistan next year after ages. Hence, Raja will have the onus to overlook all these assignments.

The former Pakistan captain addressed the media recently and opened up about many things. On being asked about the possibility of revival of bilateral series between Pakistan and India, Raja said, “Impossible right now.” Asserting that the sport has been affected the politics, the veteran said his prime focus is to focus on domestic and local cricket.

We have to focus on our domestic and local cricket: Ramiz Raja

“The sporting model has been spoiled by politics and right now it is a status quo and we are not in a hurry on this issue because we have to focus on our domestic and local cricket,” he said in a press conference.

Notably, India and Pakistan last played a bilateral series in 2012-13 in India. Since then, the two cricket powerhouses have been locking horns only in multiple-national tournaments like Asia Cup and ICC events. The two arch-rivals will next meet in the ground stage clash of ICC T20 World Cup 2021. The high-voltage encounter takes place at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on October 24.

Speaking of the much-awaited Indo-Pak game, Raja made it crystal clear he wants to see his countrymen emerge victoriously. For the inversed, India and Pakistan have met 11 times in World Cup events so far and the former team won every single time.  Hence, it would be interesting to see if the Men in Green can break their losing streak or not.

“It is a show stopper (Indo-Pak match in T20 World Cup) and when I met with the Pakistan team players I told them I want the tables to be turned this time and the team must be 100 percent operational for the match and to do well in it,” he said. The new PCB Chairman also said that he wants the national team to play fearless cricket.

“We must be prepared to face problems and also lose matches but I have told the players they shouldn’t worry about being secure about their places in the team and play fearless cricket,” he asserted.