Pakistan is leaving no stone
unturned to resume the iconic India-Pakistan bilateral series. After Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja’s proposal for a trilateral cricket
series involving India, Pakistan and another nation, former Pakistan captain
Rashid Latif planned to invite former India captain and batting superstar Virat
Kohli to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to play a T20 series modelled after the IPL.

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Latif, who has been
appointed the tournament’s Director of Cricket Operations, has echoed the
tournament president Arif Malik’s sentiments that Kohli should be invited for
the second edition of the tournament.

“We should send an
invitation to Virat Kohli but the decision to play lies with the player,”
Latif was quoted as saying by Dawn. “I had also advised [Najam] Sethi to
send invitations to all cricket boards including BCCI for PSL,” he added.

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Earlier, Malik expressed his
interest to invite Kohli to play in the tournament but he insisted that it is
up to the Indian cricketer to decide whether he should come to PoK or not.
Malik is also open to the idea of Kohli attending the tournament as a guest,
not as a cricketer.

“We have a clear cut
message for across the border. We want to do everything peacefully and keeping
that in mind, we are writing a letter to Virat Kohli. He is one of the great
players and now even players like Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi are in the ICC
rankings. When we talk about peace, all the guys should be on the same
page,” Malik said on Facebook.

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“We recently saw that
[Mohammad] Rizwan gave a very positive message that cricket should be beyond
everything. Which is why we are writing a letter to Virat Kohli. Either he can
come and play or at least attend one or two matches. It is up to him whether he
wants to be a part of the tournament as a player or as a chief guest. We want
to bring people of both sides together so that we can spread the message of
peace.”

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It must be noted that India
doesn’t play bilateral cricket with Pakistan due to the tension on the western border, and Indian men’s players are not
allowed to participate in any foreign leagues. However, it will be interesting
to see how Kohli responds to the invitation.