In a rare and heartwarming moment at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan and Pakistani pacer Mohammad Abbas combined to produce a sensational wicket during the ongoing County Championship match between Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire on Monday.
Just months after the tragic terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, and the subsequent military tensions between India and Pakistan, this sporting moment went viral on social media, offering a welcome symbol of unity and sportsmanship.
The 2025 season marked a new chapter for Abbas, who joined Nottinghamshire after a long stint with Hampshire. Kishan, on the other hand, signed with the club in an effort to revive his place in India’s national setup across all formats.
In the viral video shared by Trent Bridge’s official handle, the hosts got off to a dream start while defending their first-innings total of 487. Mohammad Abbas, bowling around the wicket, delivered a precise length ball that angled in before sharply seaming away. Yorkshire opener Adam Lyth was squared up, and the ball took the outside edge of his bat—leaving Ishan Kishan to complete a neat catch behind the stumps, dismissing him for a golden duck.
Earlier in the match, Nottinghamshire had posted a commanding total of 487 runs in their first innings. Kishan made a strong case for a national recall with a fluent 87 off 98 balls. Four other players registered half-centuries—Ben Slater (96), Liam Patterson-White (87), captain Haseeb Hameed (52), and tailender Dillon Pennington (61).
Notably, instances of Indian and Pakistani players sharing a dressing room in county cricket remain few and far between—this being only the sixth known occasion. The first such instance dates back to the 1970s when Bishan Singh Bedi, Mushtaq Mohammad, and Sarfraz Nawaz all played together for Northamptonshire.
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In more recent times, the Surrey team featured Indo-Pak collaborations such as:
2004: Zaheer Khan and Azhar Mahmood
2005: Harbhajan Singh with Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Akram
2006: Anil Kumble alongside Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Akram
The last recorded instance was in 2022, when Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Rizwan played together for Sussex. Moments like these remind fans that cricket remains a beautiful bridge across borders, even amidst political tensions.
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