Americans like cricket if Pakistan-India play; Nuland

KARACHI: Cricket is not played in America, with majority of Americans not understanding the sport, but they like it when it’s between arch rivals Pakistan and India.

State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland responded to a question about the resumption of cricketing ties between the two nations by saying, “We're for cricket. We don't understand it, but we like it.”

“We share the interest of people in India, (and) people in Pakistan ...in seeing these two countries continuing to improve their relationship,” she said.

Pakistan-India cricket matches serve as a means to improve bilateral relations between the two rival nations by opening discussion forums as well as allowing visits of cricket followers from and to both countries.

“We have been supportive in all of our diplomatic encounters at every level with the Indian side, with the Pakistani side in some of the progress that they've made,” Nuland concluded.

The cricketing ties that suspended five years back are likely to resume in December 2012 with the BCCI hosting a series of One-Day International and Twenty20 matches.