India and Pakistan should be playing Test cricket against each other, says Farokh Engineer

Former Indian cricketer Farokh Engineer has called for a truce between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The Mumbai-born cricketer was desperate to see the two teams go up against each other in the longest format of the game in the near future as he appealed to newly-appointed Pakistan PM - Imran Khan to intervene amidst all the political tension between both countries.

“Imran Khan, he is the prime minister now. Hopefully India and Pakistan will start a dialogue. They should be playing Test cricket against each other because it will do Pakistan cricket, their economy, a world of good. But you hear about border skirmishes and this and that. They’ve got to have dialogue.”

“Unfortunately, the Indian government controls the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) or they (the BCCI) have been using that as an excuse. As a cricketer, I would love India to play Pakistan or vice versa. But it is a question of convincing the political leaders. Basically we are the same people. Both countries have extremely talented cricketers and I, for one, would love to see that happen but unfortunately the brakes are on,” Engineer said at the inaugural Ranji Memorial Public Conversation on Cricket in London this week.

Former Pakistan cricketer, Mushtaq Ahmed, also supported his counterpart’s plea as he asked that the national team be allowed to play on home soil after having used stadiums across the UAE as home grounds in recent years.

“Pakistan have been deprived, we play no Test cricket in Pakistan because of security reasons. We’d love India to come to Pakistan, that would be a real boost. We’d love England to come, Australia. We play our ‘home’ series away from home, which is a very sad episode. In spite of that Pakistan has managed to produce good results, both ‘home’ and away,” Mushtaq added at an event staged by the State Bank of India UK.