Despite a thaw in ties, India said it will give a go ahead to its cricket team to play a one-off Test series in Pakistan in September only after assessing the overall improvement in bilateral relations.
"We have still two months to decide on resumption of bilateral cricket ties. We will assess the overall situation and observe to what extent the relations have improved before taking a decision," Sports Minister Vikram Verma told
reporters in Delhi on Wednesday.
But Verma said this time around the issue of playing one-on-one cricket with Pakistan could be viewed positively in the light of recent developments.
"Earlier any application from the cricket Board on playing cricket with Pakistan was outrightly rejected as a matter of policy.
"But this time around it has not been rejected. We are considering their proposal," Verma said.
Verma said the Sports Ministry will consult the matter with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Home Ministry and finally with the Prime Minsiter before arriving at any decision.
The Sports Minister said he is not in favour of playing against Pakistan at a neutral venue.
"If we at all decide to play, why should we go to a neutral venue to restore ties. We might as well go to Pakistan and further improve relations," Verma said.
Pointing out that the policy remains unchanged as far as ties in other disciplines were concerned, Verma said in cricket too India will continue to play Pakistan in multi-nation tournaments.
"We are playing hockey with Pakistan in Australia. Likewise we have already said India will play in the Asia Cup cricket tournament next year where Pakistan is one of the participants."
