Neeraj Chopra (L) and Arshad Nadeem at Paris Olympics 2024© AFP
Former Pakistan cricket team star Basit Ali believes that India and Pakistan should play bilateral series of hockey, javelin or kabaddi if BCCI and PCB fail to agree on a cricket series. India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral cricket for more than a decade due to political tensions. As a result, questions remain over whether India will be travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. During an interaction on YouTube, Basit said that the whole world is in front of the television when Neeraj and Arshad compete in javelin. He added that if they compete in a javelin series, it will be bigger than the India-Australia series.
"Arshad Nadeem beat Neeraj Chopra at the Paris Olympics; otherwise, it was a certain gold medal for India. The Indian cricket team has made it clear that they won't travel to Pakistan, so just conduct a bilateral series of hockey, javelin, or kabaddi between India and Pakistan in some other country, and you will know whether the India-Australia series is bigger or the India-Pakistan match is bigger," Basit said.
"When Neeraj and Arshad compete in javelin, the whole world will be in front of the television, and the stadium will be full," the former Pakistan cricketer added.
Earlier, former India coach Ravi Shastri backed the Rohit Sharma-led side to comfortably clinch the Test series against Australia. Basit said that the comments made by the Indian and Australian experts are targeted at creating a buzz around the series. He also pointed out that although there is interest in other series, they cannot compete with the popularity of an India vs Pakistan encounter.
"I think they are trying to create hype. The whole world knows that India vs Pakistan is on one side and everything else is on the other side. Even Ashes isn't that big. So, you are going to hear such statements now," he said.