Analysts see the cricket series as a sign the two sides are ready to move past the enmity that followed the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, when 10 Pakistan-based gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage across the city.
India blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group for the attacks and demanded that Islamabad crack down on terrorism.
Despite a long history of mutual distrust and animosity, the love of cricket—bequeathed to India and Pakistan by South Asia's British colonial rulers—is one of the few things that the two countries agree upon.
Relations have improved since the Mumbai attacks and diplomatic ties have been renewed, but New Delhi remains unsatisfied with the slow pace of Islamabad's efforts to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.
New Delhi froze nearly all contact with Islamabad—including sporting ties—after the Mumbai attacks, a hiatus that has been bridged in recent years by India and Pakistan playing matches in third countries or in international meets such as the World Cup.
