Jay Shah Narendra Modi Mohsin Naqvi for IND vs PAK. Image Credits: AFP
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government has formulated a new sports policy involving the Pakistan cricket team and Indian cricket teams. This news update came on May 6, 2026, and revealed that the government has opened the door for Pakistani players and athletes to compete in the country.
However, the policy has completely separated bilateral sporting relations and participation in multination events held in India. This new policy comes a year after the Pahalgam attacks that caused the deaths of several tourists and led to the Indian Air Force attacking military bases in Pakistan in Operation Sindoor.
India and Pakistan’s strained bilateral cricketing relations
The Indian cricket team and the Pakistani cricket team last played a bilateral series way back in 2012-13, when the Men in Green visited for a three-ODI, one T20I series. This was the first time the two warring countries clashed on a cricket field since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
However, since that series, several other terrorist incidents have led to no bilateral cricketing relations between India and Pakistan. The most significant of those has been the 2019 Pulwama attack, where India lost 40 of its CRPF jawans in a suicide bomb attack.
Then the most recent one was the Pahalgam attack in April 2025, where several Indian and international tourists were massacred by terrorists allegedly from Pakistan.
This led to India launching the Operation Sindoor on May 7, after Pakistan launched a drone attack on India’s border towns. The Indian Air Force targeted and destroyed nine military bases in Pakistan’s Punjab province and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
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India and Pakistan only clash in ACC and ICC tournaments
Thanks to the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan, the cricket teams of the two nations only play each other in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International Cricket Council (ICC) events, like the Asia Cup, the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the ODI World Cup.
Though the Pakistani team traveled to India in 2016 for the T20 World Cup and in 2023 for the ICC World Cup, the Indian government refused to grant the Indian team the permission to travel to Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Indian government is ready to welcome the Pakistani team and athletes for multi-nation events
"Pakistani players and teams will be able to participate in multilateral events hosted by India," according to an Office Memorandum released by the Sports Ministry on May 5. It also signaled a more accommodating visa policy for athletes, officials, and representatives of foreign federations. A clear distinction between bilateral and multilateral sports is made by the policy.
“In so far as bilateral sports events in each other’s country are concerned, Indian teams will not be participating in competitions in Pakistan. Nor will we permit Pakistani teams to play in India. We are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons,” the memorandum stated as per Indian Express.
It is important to note that "Indian teams and individual players will take part in international events that also have teams or players from Pakistan." In the same vein, Pakistani teams and players will be able to take part in these multilateral events hosted by India, opening the door for them to compete in multidisciplinary tournaments and international cricket in the nation.
No bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan; Pakistani athletes and players to get easy visas for events in India
The policy officially begins a dual approach where India’s participation in multi-nation events involving Pakistan has been green-lit, but bilateral engagement remains suspended.
The strategy aims to strike a compromise between the demands of global competition and geopolitical realities, where participation criteria offer minimal opportunity for exclusion.
“With regard to international and multilateral events, in India or abroad, we are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons. It is also relevant to take into account India’s emergence as a credible venue to host international sports events,” the memo added.
India will host the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and is bidding aggressively for the 2036 Olympics and 2038 Asian Games.
Hence, it has also modified the policy to ensure the visa process for ‘sportspersons, team officials, technical personnel, and office-bearers of international sports governing bodies shall be simplified.
Delays and uncertainty over visas for participants who are Pakistani or of Pakistani descent have periodically garnered criticism from international organizations and prompted concerns about host commitments in recent years.
The government seems to be eliminating uncertainty by making it clear that international events will continue to be open.
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