India rejects claim that cricket talks had taken place during SCO summit. India’s foreign ministry spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal, dismissed media claims that Indian Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had discussed with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar restoring cricket ties during last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
Jaishankar was in Pakistan for the summit and was the first Indian foreign minister to visit the country in almost a decade. For his part, Dar did not clarify reported media suggestions that cricket formed part of their brief conversation over lunch Wednesday.
The two reportedly had “casual conversations” over dinner, even sneaking in a brief side conversation with Pakistan’s Interior Minister and Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi. According to sources, Pakistan suggested resuming bilateral cricket ties as a possible avenue to “break the ice.” However, Jaiswal put that one to rest during a weekly briefing when she clarified that “nothing of that sort happened,” added that the reportage here was “very deceptive”.
The two cricketing arch-rivals have not played bilateral matches since 2008 because of strained political relations and normally only cross paths in multi-team tournaments. Pakistan will host the ICC Champions Trophy from February 19 to March 9, 2025. Pakistan hosted the Asia Cup last year but India played all its matches in Sri Lanka because of governmental restrictions on travelling to Pakistan.
Vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Rajeev Shukla, had said earlier that it is up to the Indian government to take a call on whether India will be going to the Champions Trophy or not.