Dubai: Waqar Younis, former Pakistan captain and pace ace, renewed the call of India and Pakistan resuming bi-lateral cricket - even though it doesn’t look realistic as of now.
“I think that it would be the biggest hit of the world,” said Waqar. Despite the contest enjoying the status of arguably cricket’s biggest rivalry (yes, even with the Ashes in mind), India and Pakistan have not played a series since 2012-2013 and have hit a new peak in tensions over Kashmir.
“I think Pakistan (and) India should play, and should play on a regular basis to avoid depriving cricket lovers,” he said during an online chat.
Waqar also had a message for Shahid Afridi and Gautam Gambhir - urging them to end their social media war which has turned bitter in recent times.
Gambhir is now a lawmaker in the Indian parliament while Afridi has his own foundation and is a vocal activist.
“The banter between Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi has been going on for a while now. I think they both got to be smart, sensible, and calm down,” said Waqar.
“It has been going on for way too long. My advice to them is to maybe catch up somewhere around the world and talk it out if you cannot really calm it down.”
Gambhir and Afridi were involved in a heated argument for the first time during an India vs Pakistan ODI at Kanpur in 2007. Since then the due have had a go at each other on multiple occasions.
The war of words went to another level after the release of Afridi’s autobiography, in which the former Pakistan captain did not have some great words to say about Gambhir. The former India opener wasn’t the one back down as he too took to Twitter to lash out at Afridi.