The Afro-Asia Cup was last played in 2007.
Star cricketers from rival countries India and Pakistan might team up together to take the best from African nations as the talks regarding the revival of Afro-Asia Cup is going on again.
For the unversed, the Afro-Asia Cup was a cricket series played between players from Asian cricketing nations such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and African nation players like South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.
It was played two times in 2005 and 2007 with the former edition ending up tied at 1-1 due to rain interrupting the third and final ODI, while the latter edition had one T20 match and three ODIs. Asia XI whitewashed African XI in the ODIs and also won the T20 match in 2007.
However, the competition was abandoned due to hostile diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan along with the broadcasting issues.
According to a latest report published in Forbes, there’s a possibility that the Afro-Asia Cup could be revived.
Former Africa Cricket Association (ACA) chair Sumod Damodar said they regret not pushing hard enough for the competition’s return earlier but it’s now “being looked at again.”
“Personally, I am very hurt that it (Afro-Asia Cup) didn’t happen. There was not adequate momentum through the ACA, but it is being looked at again. I think it was basically a lack of understanding and not buying into the concept. Our members are regretting it. It needed to be pushed by Africa,” Damodar told Forbes.
If it does happen again, the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah could rub shoulders with Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi as part of Asia XI.
Damodar expects the new ICC chairman Jay Shah and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) head of development Mahinda Vallipuram to play a critical role in this regard.
“With Mahinda now on the ICC board and Jay Shah running the ICC, that could bring a bit more momentum to this cause. Both of them have always been proactive in trying to make this happen,” Damodar said.