Covid-19: Shoaib Akhtar calls for India vs Pakistan series to raise funds

Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar has proposed a three-match One Day International (ODI) series against arch-rivals India to raise funds for the fight against the Covid-19, or coronavirus, pandemic in both the countries.
 
In these extraordinary times, the 'Rawalpindi Express' feels both countries should help each other.
 
"If India can make 10,000 ventilators for us, Pakistan will remember this gesture forever. But we can only propose the matches. The rest is up to the authorities (to decide)."
 
India and Pakistan have not played a full series since 2007 due to the terrorist attack in Mumbai by Pakistan-based outfits which resulted in diplomatic tensions. However, India hosted Pakistan for limited over cricket in 2012-13. In the three-match ODI series, Pakistan defeated the hosts 2-1, while the two-match T20 International series ended in a 1-1 draw.
 
"In this time of crisis, I want to propose a three match series in which for the first time, the people of neither country would be upset at the outcome of the games," news agency PTI quoted Akhtar from Islamabad.
 
"If Virat (Kohli) scores a hundred, we will be happy, if Babar Azam scores a hundred, you will be happy. Both teams will be winners irrespective of whatever happens on the field," he said.
 
"You are bound to get massive viewership for the games. For the first time, both countries will play for each other. And whatever funds are generated through this can be donated equally to the government of India and Pakistan to fight this pandemic," added the 44-year-old.

 
Indian cricketers get trolled for asking donations for Shahid Afridi's charity foundation
 
India cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were recently trolled for asking their social media followers to donate to Shahid Afridi's charity foundation which is doing its bit in Pakistan's fight against the deadly virus.
 
"It was inhuman to criticise them. It is not about countries or religion at the moment, it is about humanity," Akhtar opined.
 
Akhtar has spent a lot of time in India as a commentator. He fondly recalled his days in Mumbai during the World T20 in 2016, the last time he came to India for work.
 
"I am forever grateful about the love I have received from the people of India. For the first time I am revealing this, whatever I used to earn from India, I made a significant amount there, thirty percent of it, I used to distribute among the low income staff who used to work with me in the TV," he remembered.

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