India, Pakistan To Face Off In Yet Another Contest

With the senior teams of India and Pakistan not seeing action against each other for extended periods of time, every other opportunity is being taken to try and make these two teams a feature for tournaments of all hue. The recent-most platform to see these two sides in action will be the Emerging Cup, to be played in Bangladesh from March 15 to 26. While the tournament is essentially for under-23 players, the format allows participation by four national players without any age limit.

As always, the tournament will see India and Pakistan matching wits in Cox's Bazaar, says the Indian Express.

Apart from these two sides, the tournament also features hosts Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The tournament, authorised by the Asian Cricket Council, also sees Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Nepal in action. These countries will play their national teams.

The full ICC member teams are allowed to add four national players each to their side, though it is unlikely that India would oblige by ending senior players.

"Yes, India would be sending a team to the tournament. It's an ACC tournament and so we would go there. This is not a bilateral India-Pakistan series, and so this is different," a BCCI official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

This is the last multilateral tournament that will feature these two sides, before they take on each other once again in the Champions Trophy in England in June this year.