Star cricketers from rival countries India and Pakistan might team up together to take the best from African nations as the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) aims to revive the Afro-Asia Cup scheduled for 2023.
Just to refresh the memory, 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 2005 edition ending up tied at 1-1 thanks to rain interrupting the third and final ODI, while the 2007 edition had one T20 match and 3 ODIs. Asia XI whitewashed African XI in the ODIs and also won the T20 match, which did not have official status as a Twenty20 international or a regular Twenty20 match.
It featured the best players from Asia like Inzamam Ul Haq, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Mahela Jayawardene, Mohammad Asif, Harbhajan Singh, Chaminda Vaas, Shahid Afridi, and Shoaib Akhtar amongst others.
Now the showpiece event is being given a rebranding from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) led by India’s governing body boss Jay Shah.
The updated version, played in the T20 format, is earmarked for June-July next year with discussions snowballing at April’s ICC board meeting between Shah, the new chairman of African Cricket Association Sumod Damodar, and ACC chairman of development committee Mahinda Vallipuram, who is also an Associate Member director on the ICC board.
The proposal will be further discussed in next month’s ICC Annual General Meeting.
“We haven’t got confirmation from the boards yet. We are still working on the white paper and it will be submitted to both boards. But our plan is for the best players from India and Pakistan to be playing in the Asian XI. Once plans are finalized we will go into the market for sponsorship and a broadcaster. It will be a massive event. Really, really big,” ACC head of commercial and events Prabhakaran Thanraj was quoted by Forbes.
If all goes to plan, it could represent a thawing between the boards of India and Pakistan.
"I would love to see the opportunity to build the bridge and allow the players to play together. I'm sure the players want it to happen and to keep the politics away from it. It would be a beautiful thing to see players from Pakistan and India playing on the same team.
The Afro-Asia Cup is a premium product and from a revenue perspective, that's where we would generate more income. What we pump back can go back to the members, particularly in Africa which needs more support. Africa has a lot to benefit from because Asia is a powerhouse. It's a relationship I was keen to foster and develop,” said Damodar who is on the influential Chief Executives’ Committee.
The BCCI is invested in the bold ACC plans led by a determined Shah, who is looming as a potential candidate for the ICC chair election later this year.
“We have reactivated the whole Asian Cricket Council to see what we can do with this property. We also want to give confidence to the upcoming cricket nations and develop cricket broadly,” Thanraj said.
(Forbes inputs)
