It's sad talented youngsters of India & Pakistan are not getting to play bilaterals: Asif Iqbal

Tragic that people on both sides are being denied the joy of watching these top cricketers play on their soil, writes former Pakistan captain Asif IqbalI still recall the time when cricket between India and Pakistan stalled for almost two decades due to non-cricketing reasons, finally resuming with a three-Test series in 1978. I remember a lot of us Pakistani players were playing in the Kerry Packer 'rebel' series at that time, due to which those players had been banned from playing for Pakistan. However, once it was announced that India were coming to Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) changed its mind about those players.

Obviously, Pakistan wanted their best team to represent the country in that important series. India were captained by Bishan Singh Bedi. The team also included the other great spinners Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, along with Bedi himself, and some great batsmen of that era in Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Chetan Chauhan and some others.

Somehow, we managed to win the series 2-0. And it was a great series watched by hundreds of thousands on the ground. In spite of little television coverage in those days, millions watched.

As far as the atmosphere was concerned, that series against India was the biggest experience of my cricketing life. The amount of love and affection showered by the common people of Pakistan on the Indian players was awesome. People really opened their hearts and doors to the Indian players.

It was the same case when we went to India a year later. We got the same amount of love and respect in India. The hospitality on both sides was truly amazing and so were the crowds.