Afro-Asia Cup to Return After 14 Years Virat Kohli and Babar Azam to Play Together
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Soon the big-names of Indian and Pakistani cricket can be seen playing together. These rumors gained traction after it was reported that the cricketing boards plan to revive the Afro-Asia Cup. This tournament first took place in 2005 and then in 2007, where the best players from Asia and Africa faced each other. The Asia XI consisted of the best players from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, whereas the Africa XI featured top players from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.
The main reason behind the discontinuation of this tournament was the rise of political tensions between India and Pakistan, after the Mumbai terror attack in 2008. With Jay Shah taking over ICC or the International Cricket Council on 1st December, the potential revival of the Afro-Asia Cup is expected. However, the cricketing boards of all the nations have to give their approval to restart this tournament successfully.
As per reports, the format may change from past editions. Previously the Africa XI contested the Asia XI in One Day matches, however, it is expected to change into T20s. Recently, the ACA or African Cricket Association president Samod Damodar spoke about the potential revival of this cup.
He stated his disappointment due to the discontinuation of the Afro-Asia Cup. Samod even accepted that the lack of understanding of the concept stopped this international cricketing event. During the interview, he even said that the ACA board members regret not putting more effort into continuing this tournament.
The first Afro-Asia Cup saw various big names team up together, such as Zaheer Khan, Mahela Jayawardene, Shoaib Akhtar, Virendra Sehwag, Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Kumar Sangakkara. Should ICC decide to restart the tournament, stars like Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Rohit Sharma would potentially be playing together. In the last Afro-Asia Cup match in 2007, MS Dhoni scored an unbeaten 139 to help Asia XI record a win by 13 runs.
Multiple reports suggest that the ACA planned to resume this tournament in 2023, but internal politics resulted in the cancellation of this plan. Damodar hopes that the barriers can be removed and the Afro-Asia Cup can be restarted.
