Modi calls Sharif, opens new Indo-Pak innings

CRICKET DIPLOMACY To send foreign secy to Islamabad; calls other Saarc heads too PM ON THE BALL

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on Friday to wish his cricket team luck ahead of a World Cup grudge match between the arch-rivals this week, signalling a thaw in the frosty ties between the neighbours.

Modi also said he was sending foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to Islamabad as part of a regional tour, the first topranking visit since India broke off talks last year in protest against the Pakistani high commissioner meeting Kashmiri separatist leaders in Delhi.

The Prime Minister said on Twitter that he spoke to the leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, apart from Pakistan, to wish them luck in the cricket tournament being held in Australia and New Zealand.

“Cricket connects people in our region & promotes goodwill. Hope players from SAARC region play with passion & bring laurels to the region,” he tweeted. “Would be sending our new Foreign Secretary on a SAARC Yatra soon to further strengthen our ties.”

Modi’s cricket diplomacy comes after India-Pakistan relations soured last year over increased firing along the border and cancelled peace talks.

The setback came shortly after NAWAZ SHARIF

Modi reminds Pak

PM of the time he played a warm-up

World Cup game in 1987, when

Imran Khan was

Pak captain — joking that the political rivals were on the same team. “I wish those days would come back,” replies Sharif the countries agreed to resume dialogue in May when Sharif attended Modi’s inauguration.

During the seven-minute conversation — that took place a day after US President Barack Obama spoke to the Pakistani premier — Modi recalled Sharif playing in a warm-up World Cup match in 1987 alongside Imran Khan, Pakistan’s World Cupwinning captain-turned-politician, in the tournament hosted by the two neighbours.

Millions of fans from the two countries are expected to watch Sunday’s clash on television, while thousands of others are set to flock to the Adelaide Oval in Australia.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 >> PM EFFECTS A ‘COURSE CORRECTION’ ON PAK, P13 SHEIKH HASINA During call to Bangla PM, praises all-rounder Shakib al Hasan, who also plays for KKR MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA

Tells Lanka Prez of bowler Lasith Malinga’s popularity in India ASHRAF GHANI Says Afghanistan a relatively new player in World Cup and wishes the President luck