A revival of the Afro-Asia Cup is on the horizon, not for the first time but a lot of things have to go right for that to happen. An Africa XI vs Asia XI three-match ODI series took place in 2005, followed by 2007 and that was the only time when something like this took place. It was set to be revived in 2009 but didn't and after 15 years, there seem to be a few activities set to be taking place regarding bringing the tournament back with the current BCCI president and the newly elected ICC Chairman Jay Shah on board.
A Cricbuzz report stated that Jay Shah was keen to revive the Afro-Asia Cup as a biennial tournament. However, with Shah taking the top job at the ICC and Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB Chairman, expected to assume the role of ACC chief, the talks are set to take a bit longer than expected.
"We have tried to revive the Afro-Asia Cup. Jay was on board and Mahinda Vallipuram (head of Malaysia Cricket and current ICC director) actively participated in the discussions," Sumod Damodar, a veteran ICC hand was quoted as saying. Damodar, currently the head of Botswana cricket, was one of the first minds to get the Afro-Asia Cup started and implemented.
It is exciting news for the fans to potentially have an opportunity to witness the likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi playing together, however, with so many changes happening at the top offices, a lot of things have to go right for it to be back on track.
Asia XI and Africa XI drew the three-match ODI series 1-1 with the decider being washed out due to rain. The next edition was dominated by the Asian side featuring the likes of Shahid Afridi, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Sanath Jayasuriya among others. Asia XI won the 2007 Cup 3-0.
