ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice is “expecting” Pakistan to face India in the World Cup this Autumn, but admitted he had seen “no thawing” of relations between the two sides in the past few years.
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The upcoming Asia Cup and World Cup have both been under the shadow of a political stand-off in recent months, with Pakistan threatening to pull out of the show-piece 50-over tournament.
It comes after Pakistan were awarded the Asia Cup last year, but India announced they would not travel to the country and called for it to be held at a neutral venue.
The PCB then threatened to pull out of the World Cup in retaliation, and despite suggestions of a hybrid tournament in Sri Lanka being offered as an alternative host, the Asia Cup’s location is still up in the air.
Despite the lack of clarity on the issue, Allardice felt the two sides would face each other at the World Cup. He told Test Match Special: “I don’t think we can’t comprehend the magnitude of the issues between the two countries.
“In a cricketing sense, the Asia Cup is not an issue the ICC is involved in. Obviously when we get to World Cups, India and Pakistan have always come together and played.
“With the World Cup this year, we’ve got a host agreement with India as the hosts, they’re going to put on a ten-team tournament, we have an agreement with them, and with Pakistan we have an agreement with them around participation in ICC events.
“There’s always a lot of conjecture and speculation and hyperbole around these issues, but the cricket has always won out, and we’re expecting that to be the case this year.”
When asked what the chance was of Pakistan pulling out of the tournament, the ICC chief replied: “Look I’ve been at the ICC for 10 or 11 years, and leading up to most major events there’s some sort of discussion or chatter back and forth on that issue, and cricket has always come through.
“We’re still a fair way out from the event later this year that we’re staging this year, and we’re expecting the cricket to come through.”
He admitted, though that there had been no “significant thawing” in the relationship between India and Pakistan, despite the fact that their clash at the T20 World Cup had been “a great advertisement for cricket.”
