Former Pakistan captain and distinguished pacer all-rounder Wasim Akram remains optimistic about India travelling to Pakistan for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy. The 50-over tournament is slated to take place from February 19 to March 9, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) still confident of staging the entire competition in Pakistan.
The PCB had also proposed to have all of India’s games in Lahore citing the city’s closeness to the Indo-Pak border, which could then make matters related to logistics and security aspects easier.
Akram said Team India will be looked after “amazingly well” in Pakistan. “From whatever I’m reading, there are positive vibes from the Indian government and the BCCI... I can promise you, Indian cricketers are going to get looked after amazingly well in Pakistan,” Akram told select media during a virtual interaction organised by Cricket Australia on Thursday.
“Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, (Hardik) Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, all these guys are adored by the young cricket fans in Pakistan. Also, people-to-people contact is very important in this day and age, especially in this social media age where there’s so much unnecessary negativity all over the world.”
Akram hopes India will also show generosity like Pakistan, who visited India for the 2016 T20 World Cup and last year’s ODI World Cup.
“It doesn’t depend on the Indian team or the BCCI as much as the Indian government. I think the Pakistani government and the Indian government can have a chat. In this negative era, agar thodi si khushi de denge kisiko (if you give a bit of happiness to someone), it will work for both sides. I haven’t been able to go to India for quite some time. I miss the friends, the food, the people there.
“Whenever Indian teams have come to Pakistan, they have said, ‘Aisa tour humne kiya hi nahi’... Jitna unko pyaar milta hai (‘We’ve never had such a tour’... The amount of love they get). I wish India come to Pakistan and see how our hospitality is.”
‘Series of the year’
Talking about the upcoming India-Australia series, Akram acknowledged the role of Team India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as “very crucial.” India would also be “motivated to bounce back” after the series loss to New Zealand, Akram pointed out.
“It will be the series of the year. India lost to New Zealand recently, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back and they’ll be motivated enough. However, I think Australia will be favourites, though in a five-Test series, both teams will have time to come back.
“It will also be very interesting to see what sort of pitches they (India) get, especially in Adelaide and Melbourne, because they are drop-in pitches.”
