Analysing potential impact on already-damaged Indo-Pak cricket relations after cross-border conflict

India and Pakistan finally agreed to a ceasefire after a week of escalated cross-border conflicts in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 innocent civilians last month on April 22, 2025. Apart from the damage to geopolitical relations between two nuclear-armed foes, the already-damaged cricketing ties have also faced a severe dent after the cross-border conflicts, which lasted for almost a week.

So, there are a lot of chances of a big potential threat to the cricketing relations between India and Pakistan in the coming months, including the Asia Cup 2025, the prolonged suspension of the bilateral series between both teams and a lot more at the level of international cricket.

With that said, here we’ll analyse the potential impact of cross-border war-like conflict on cricket relations that have been damaged for more than a decade.

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The first impact on cricket relations in 60s and 70s

For the first time in the history of India-Pakistan cricket relations, a big rift happened in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Both teams didn’t play each other for almost 13-14 years till 1978, when they started playing against each other in a Test series. Cricket diplomacy also saw the presence of the then-Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq in the Jaipur Test between India and Pakistan.

It was the start of the impact of cross-border wars and political tensions on cricket relations between India and Pakistan. Later, the same turnaround of events kept unfolding till the late 90s, followed by a major impact in the major part of first 25 years of the 21st century.

The introduction of neutral venues in the iconic cricket rivalry

Cut to the late 1980s and 1990s, the political and cross-border struggles gave a chance to the neutral cricketing bodies to cash in on this opportunity to host this iconic cricketing rivalry. Due to the escalating tensions at the borders and political turmoil between the two major countries of the sub-continent, the cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan was shifted to neutral venues.

The arch-rivals started playing each other in foreign venues, including the likes of Sharjah and Toronto. Both teams took on each other in the major international tournaments like, Austral-Asia Cup and Friendship Cup, which attracted a large amount of money and crowds, witnessing some historic clashes between India and Pakistan in Sharjah.

The major damage after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks 

India and Pakistan had toured each other for a couple of bilateral assignments after their cricketing ties were restored after the 1999 Kargil war. It included their bilateral clash against each other in 2004, 2006, and 2007, followed by the involvement of Pakistan players in the first edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008.

But it all faced a big setback and came to a long halt after Pakistan-backed terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. This attack happened to affect the India-Pakistan cricket relations more than ever in history. Since then, both countries have never toured each other for a bilateral clash except for Pakistan’s tour to India for a nominal white-ball series in 2012-13.

The impact of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks on Indo-Pak cricket relations was such severe that both teams have played against each other in the Asia Cup and major ICC tournaments only. So, it’s been almost 17 years since the cricketing ties between India and Pakistan have been facing this damage due to conflict on the geopolitical level.

What’s next after the most recent 2025 face-off at the border

After assessing the entire history of India-Pakistan cricketing relations, the recent cross-border face-off between the two nuclear-armed countries for the last few weeks since April 22, is going to hammer the cricket relations with serious damage. The bilateral cricket seems to be on hold for almost the next two decades, and the possibility of a contest between both teams in the Asia Cup and major ICC tournaments is also in jeopardy.

Given that In the aftermath of the cross-border conflict, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to take some serious steps to avoid cricket with Pakistan at either level of the game, be it bilateral or in international tournaments. In the same line of events, the government-related authorities will also play a game-changing role in deciding the fate of cricket relations between the two countries.

Former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, being the ICC chairman, could also be a big reason to direct the future of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. 
 

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