New Delhi, Aug 21: The highly anticipated India-Pakistan encounter in next month’s Asia Cup is set to proceed as scheduled after the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports issued a clarification on Thursday, formally outlining the Indian government’s position on sporting engagements with Pakistan amid ongoing political tensions between the two neighbours.
In its statement, the ministry drew a sharp distinction between bilateral contests and participation in multi-nation events.
While reaffirming that India will neither host nor tour Pakistan for bilateral matches, it confirmed that Indian athletes and teams are free to take part in international tournaments involving Pakistan.
This includes the men’s Asia Cup, to be held in the UAE in September, and the women’s ODI World Cup in October.
The clarification ends weeks of uncertainty, particularly with India and Pakistan drawn in the same group of the Asia Cup.
The two arch-rivals are scheduled to meet on September 14 in Dubai and could potentially clash up to three times, depending on how both progress through the competition.
It will also mark their first meeting on a cricket field since cross-border hostilities escalated following the Pahalgam terror attack in April.
The ministry’s guidelines also confirmed that Pakistani athletes will be permitted to compete in multi-nation events hosted in India, ensuring reciprocal access under international sporting frameworks. However, the statement remained silent on whether Indian teams would be allowed to participate in multi-nation events staged in Pakistan—an ambiguity that may resurface ahead of future ICC tournaments.
“In so far as bilateral sports events in each other’s country are concerned, Indian teams will not be participating in competitions in Pakistan.
Nor will we permit Pakistani teams to play in India,” the ministry said.
“With regard to international and multilateral events, in India or abroad, we are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons.
Accordingly, Indian teams and individual players will take part in international events that also have teams or players from Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistani players and teams will be able to participate in such multilateral events hosted by India.”
The ministry also unveiled measures aimed at strengthening India’s reputation as a global sporting hub.
These include simplifying visa processes for athletes, team officials, technical staff, and office-bearers of international sports bodies.
Multi-entry visas, valid for up to five years, will be granted on a priority basis to governing body officials, while dignitaries visiting India for major events will be extended full diplomatic courtesies.
This formal articulation effectively codifies a long-standing, though unwritten, policy that has shaped India’s sporting relationship with Pakistan for more than a decade. The two countries last played a bilateral cricket series in 2012, after which relations froze. Since then, meetings have been restricted to ICC or ACC tournaments, including the ODI and T20 World Cups, the Champions Trophy, and the Asia Cup.
India has also stuck firmly to its policy of not travelling to Pakistan. While Pakistan toured India for the 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2023 ODI World Cup, India skipped matches allocated to Pakistan during the 2025 Champions Trophy, with fixtures shifted to Dubai under a hybrid hosting model.
That arrangement, brokered between the BCCI and PCB, is now expected to apply to all remaining ICC events in the 2024–27 cycle.
The announcement comes against the backdrop of calls from several quarters for India to sever all sporting ties with Pakistan following the April terror attack. During the World Championship of Legends, a tournament for retired cricketers held in July, both scheduled matches between the two teams were abandoned, with the India Champions even forfeiting their semi-final against the Pakistan Champions.
By providing official sanction to India’s participation in the Asia Cup, the ministry has now put to rest speculation of a boycott, ensuring the cricketing world’s most watched rivalry will once again take centre stage in Dubai.
For fans across the subcontinent and beyond, the government’s stance all but guarantees that one of sport’s fiercest contests will unfold as scheduled—albeit only under the umbrella of multi-nation competitions. (Agencies)
