Windies are here

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The West Indies cricket team has been in Pakistan for a Test series – the first between the two sides to be played on the Pakistan soil after a long gap of 18 years. The Caribbean cricketers have visited Pakistan thrice since 2018, but only for limited overs' matches. The current tour – that has already commenced with a three-day game between the visitors and Pakistan Shaheens – marks the first time since 2006 that the two nations will be locking horns in the longest format of the game. Thus, the series is a historic milestone in Pakistan's quest for full-fledged normalisation of international cricket at local venues.

There was a total drought of international cricket in Pakistan for six years since the 2009 terrorist attack on Sri Lankan team in Lahore. Zimbabwe then turned out to be first foreign team to set foot in Pakistan, in 2015. Over the last decade though, all major international teams – save for India – have visited Pakistan, for both white and red ball games. India's reluctance, however, goes back well before the said terrorist act, as the archrival had last visited Pakistan in Jan-Feb 2006. This avoidance under the pretext of security – pretty evidently a part of the Indian government's attempt to isolate Pakistan in every respect – has now grown to the extent that Indians are not even ready to feature in any ICC events scheduled in Pakistan.

India's growing clout in ICC over the years and the lucrative league opportunities that the BCCI offers to international players have ensured that other bigs of cricket keep a mum. No wonder the ICC Champions Trophy – originally scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan, from Feb 19 to March 9 – will be played on a hybrid model. That politics should spare sports goes without saying. Need for India to mind its ego.