India on Saturday invited Pakistan to take part in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament this year, breaking new ground in the stalled cricket ties between the arch-rivals. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which met in Chennai on Saturday, gave the go ahead to Pakistan's participation in the tournament which features leading domestic Twenty20 teams from around the world.
"The BCCI has decided to invite a team from Pakistan to play in the Champions League to be held in India in October," BCCI chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting. The BCCI's recommendation will be forwarded to the governing council of the Champions League which is owned by the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa, Srinivasan added. India and Pakistan met in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh in March and the World Cup semi-final in India last year, but regular tours have been frozen since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, blamed on Pakistan-based militants.