New Delhi: This may just be the news that the cricket lovers all over the world were waiting for, Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik Tuesday expressed the hope that bilateral cricketing ties between India and Pakistan will soon resume.

Talking to reporters at Indian Women Press Corps here, he said that Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani talked to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during World Cup semifinal at Mohali last year on restarting bilateral cricket matches.

"I hope that the cricket bilateral series between India and Pakistan resume soon," Malik said.

"There is a desire on the part of the leadership of both countries that this start," he said adding that Manmohan Singh had said he would take up the issue with the Indian cricket board.

Malik also pointed out that PakistanCricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf was in India at the invitation of Indian cricket board to witness last month's Indian Premier League final at Chennai.

Ashraf had met board president N Srinivasan in Chennai, and later, in Delhi, he met ICC chief Sharad Pawar and IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla.

"The two cricket boards are discussing the possibility of restarting the cricket ties and series," Malik said.

He also said Pakistan's T20 tournament winners have been invited to participate in the Champions League tournament in India later this year.

"That is a sort of breaking of the ice," Malik said. (IANS)