It should come as no surprise if the Indian government has decided that Team India will not play cricket in Pakistan. In fact, it would take a major change of direction on the part of the government if it were to reverse its decision to allow the Indian team to play the Champions Trophy ODI tournament in Pakistan scheduled for February 2025.
That there can be no normal cricket in an abnormal setting in Pakistan has been India’s contention ever since terrorists opened fire on the touring Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009. Pakistan has hosted international teams at home with very tight security since 2015 with terror events taking place nearby, but the issues are far bigger than just security when it comes to India-Pakistan ties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Pakistan soon after his election in 2014 and recently the foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, was there for an SCO summit in October 2024. While Pakistan promises to make security arrangements commensurate with a visiting head of state, it cannot guarantee total safety in a sport like cricket played in different cities in open stadiums.
So long as the Pakistan regime supports terror in Jammu and Kashmir through trained operatives and proxies, there is no hope for normalisation of relations, which alone can lead to normalisation of sporting contacts too. Given the role that their spy agency ISI plays in this — as proved in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai — there is little chance of sport being used as a medium to mend a relationship that had gone sour with the neighbour’s stand and designs on Kashmir.
Peace overtures, routinely made when former Pakistani Prime Ministers sentimentally refer to making up with India, are unlikely to bring about a major change in policy regarding the Indian team, though Pakistan did participate in the World Cup which India hosted in 2023, and without any untoward event or threats.
National policy is, however, unlikely to change though Jay Shah, son of the home minister, is to become the chairman of the ICC in December. And Indian cricket’s financial clout is such it can overlook any commitment to multilateral events under the ICC fold.
In desperate need of the finances that will accrue from a major ICC event’s TV and digital rights, the Pakistan cricket board may be accommodative to the extent of hosting India’s matches in the UAE or Sri Lanka as it did in the Asia Cup last year. India can contribute to that extent to the Pakistan-hosted ICC event.
