The Mohali effect: India, Pak to start regular cricket, hockey

Two weeks after Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited Mohali to watch the World Cup semifinal with Manmohan Singh, India and Pakistan have decided to resume bilateral cricket and hockey ties.

Sources in the government said the Indian team will tour Pakistan early next year for Test matches and One-Day games. BCCI and PCB have reportedly been asked to draw up a schedule.

India is already scheduled to host Pakistan for three Tests and five ODIs in March-April 2012, after a tour of Australia. The ICC schedule is, however, drawn up well in advance, and whether the series are played depends on boards and governments.

The last time India toured Pakistan was in 2005-06. Bilateral cricketing ties were suspended after the 26/11 attacks. Sources said the hockey teams are likely to play a bilateral series later this year in India. Though the Pakistan hockey team played in last year’s Commonwealth Games and in the World Cup hosted by Delhi, the two sides have not played in a bilateral series since the Mumbai attacks.

At a reception hosted by him in Lahore earlier this month for the Pakistan cricket team, Gilani said the World Cup had “proved to be a catalyst for improving ties between the two countries”.

Yesterday, Pakistan’s The News daily quoted PCB officer Subhan Ahmad as saying that efforts were on for a three-match ODI series between the teams.