NEW DELHI, July 16 (UPI Asia) -- India has decided to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan after a gap of about five years.
The governing body of Indian cricket Monday announced five matches between the Indian team and the visiting Pakistani cricket team in December.
"It was decided to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan by inviting the Pakistan cricket team for a short series in December 2012-January 2013," the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the governing body, said in a press release.
The last bilateral cricket match series between India and Pakistan was in 2007-2008 when the Pakistani team had visited India.
The resumption of cricketing ties is being seen as a sign of improvement in relations between the two countries.
Mutual visits by the two countries' cricket teams were suspended by India after terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. India alleged that the attacks, which led to the death of 164 people, were planned and executed by a Pakistan-based terrorist group.
Cricket is an extremely popular sport in the two nuclear-armed South Asian countries, which have had a history of strained bilateral relations and fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.
