Cricket Australia (CA) has expressed interest in hosting a bilateral series between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in Australia.
The two nations have not faced each other in a bilateral series since 2012-13. Since then, they have only met in ICC international tournaments.
Will Australia host the India vs Pakistan bilateral series?
CA chief executive Nick Hockley expressed his willingness to facilitate the series. “If we can play a role in supporting and facilitating the India-Pakistan bilateral series, we would be happy to do so,” Hockley told The Indian Express during a media interaction.
In the 2024 T20 World Cup, India and Pakistan played a thrilling match in New York with India winning by 6 runs. Rohit Sharma’s Indian team won the tournament while Babar Azam’s Pakistan was eliminated in the group stage.
The Melbourne Cricket Club and the Victorian government have expressed interest in hosting bilateral matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where India and Pakistan played out a thrilling final ball in front of a crowd of 90,293 at the 2022 T20 World Cup. Hockley noted that while no formal talks have taken place, California is open to hosting the series.
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What did Nick Hockley say about his ODI future?
Hockley also spoke about the future of ODI cricket, where he stressed the need for meaningful bilateral series to be a part of the format going forward. “The ODI World Cup that India hosted last year was fantastic. In a 10-team format, every game matters, so it’s fantastic,” he said.
He stressed the importance of having a result for each series, similar to the World Test Championship, to maintain interest in the white-ball format. Hockley said Australia values all three formats of football and hopes the bilateral series will have an impact on World Cup qualification.
