Football authorities, from Fifa to the FA, are keen to argue that the sport is a benign force, an agent of positive social transformation even. They portray football as the universal game for a global world, an instrument of soft power and peaceful diplomacy and a device for overcoming social divisions.

In their quest to accord further impetus to ties between Indian and Pakistan after cricket diplomacy somewhat thawed them, the hockey honchos of the two countries are mulling giving another push to the bilateral relations later this year.

Speakers at a seminar titled “Cricket Diplomacy Makes a Difference” welcomed people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan on sports and cultural activities to defuse traditional tension between the governments of both the countries.

Sources in the government said that India would most likely send its cricket team first to Pakistan and then Pakistani team could tour India. “As the current season is all full and packed, it is for the BCCI to find a schedule that will suit both the countries..." the sources said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the Cricket World Cup semi-final between the two countries is not quite a googly — cricket diplomacy has been used in the past — but can something come of the gesture?

When the creators of the Tour de Pakistan launched Asia's longest cycling race in 1983, they were inspired by the Tour de France, right down to the name of the event and the yellow jersey awarded to the leader. But there the similarities come to an abrupt halt.

U.S. Ambassador to India, Timothy J. Roemer, on Monday congratulated the leaders of both India and Pakistan for a very successful dialogue on the sidelines of the World Cup semi-final clash at Mohali last week.

Teams from India and Pakistan face each other Wednesday in the semifinal Cricket World Cup match. Social historian Mukul Kesavan talks to Steve Inskeep about whether the game is the right time to conduct diplomacy between the two arch-rivals.