Zaka Ashraf thanks India for warm welcoming Pakistan's World Cup squad

LAHORE – The top representative of Pakistan's cricket governing body has commended the people of India for hosting the country's World Cup team, saying Pakistani players have always been welcomed warmly in the neighbouring nation.

After a seven-year hiatus, Pakistan's national cricket team landed in India on Wednesday to take part in the forthcoming ODI competition, which will also feature teams from other cricket-playing nations.

For more than 10 years ago, the two South Asian governments have not competed in a bilateral cricket series against one another due to political tensions. The two sides have only met in world cricket tournaments at neutral sites.

In 2016, when Shahid Khan Afridi served as the green shirts' T20 World Cup captain, Pakistan last played cricket on Indian soil.

The "fantastic reception" given to his nation's men's cricket team in India, according to Zaka Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee, demonstrated how much the citizens of both states adored each other's athletes.

He was reported as stating in a PCB release, "Whenever India and Pakistan go onto the cricket pitch, they emerge as traditional rivals but not as foes.

Ashraf expressed the wish that Pakistani cricketers would experience the same love throughout the competition and that Indian supporters would see their greatest play.

The senior PCB official claimed that cricket has always served as a means of communication between the two countries and that supporters on both sides of the border continued to support players from both countries.

"He expressed his desire for the restoration of bilateral cricketing relations between the two countries, allowing millions of cricket fans from both nations the opportunity to watch these players perform live," the PCB statement read.

He hoped that the Indian cricket team will visit Pakistan soon so that the Pakistani people could return the kindness and compassion that the Indians had given to the Pakistani cricket team.