London, Sept 10: The International Cricket Council today welcomed India's decision to resume cricket ties with Pakistan at the junior level and hoped that this step would lead to the revival of one-to-one matches between these "two great cricketing nations". "The cricketing world welcomes this decision and I would hope that it would lead to the resumption of full cricketing ties between these two great cricketing nations," ICC president Ehsan Mani said in a statement.

"The match between the two teams at the ICC World Cup 2003 was one of the most exciting games of the tournament played with a lot of goodwill between the teams and clearly demonstrates the ability of cricket to bring the people of these two countries together. "Sport has the capacity to build understanding between people and I would hope that the Indian government allows cricket to play a role in promoting goodwill between India and Pakistan," he said.
On Monday, the Indian government cleared a visit by its under-19 team to Pakistan for a quadrangular tournament from November 1 to 9.
It also gave the go ahead for Pakistan's participation in a one-day series involving 'A' teams in India from December 13-21 and the Afro-Asian Games to be hosted by the South-Indian city of Hyderabad from October 24 to November 1. Bureau Report