United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sees the potential of the Cricket Asia Cup to bring countries together, his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

Asked by a reporter about the tournament that begins on Wednesday, he said that sports have “great potential to bring people together to bring countries together, to bring cultures together and cricket does that”.

“Cricket, like football and rugby in many sports played around the world” has this “great potential”, he said.

Six South Asian nations will be vying for the trophy in the tournament that will be played in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India and Pakistan, which have few avenues for direct people-to-people contacts, will face off in Kandy in Sri Lanka on Saturday.

The other countries participating are Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. 

Dujarric, who is French-American, prefaced his statement humorously about the intricacies of the game being a mystery to people most countries.

He said, “I love to watch cricket. I understand absolutely nothing about cricket”.

(SAM)