Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao on Thursday surprised everyone when she announced that India is ready to send his cricket team to Pakistan.

Ms Rao was of the opinion that cricket is very popular sports in both countries and it can help in developing good relations between the neighboring countries.

“In such situations, India was looking at promoting cricketing contacts with Pakistan” We are definitely open. Of course, this has to be discussed between the cricketing fraternities on both sides and taken forward,” said Ms Rao in a television interview.

“It is not that we have forbidden our teams from going there. Security is always an issue and we always like to be sure about security when we allow our teams to go there. But when it comes to cricket, I think cricket sometimes becomes an instrument of diplomacy in such situations,” Ms Rao added.