The two teams are set to meet in the semi-final of the cricket World Cup in the northern Indian town of Mohali in a hotly anticipated match after India knocked out Australia on Thursday.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman in Islamabad said the invitation had been received but had no comment whether a decision had been made to accept it.

“There is huge excitement over the match and we are all looking forward to a great game of cricket, that will be a victory for sport,” Singh wrote in a letter to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

India and Pakistan have been slowly trying to repair relations and in February agreed to resume formal peace talks broken off in the wake of the Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed.

Singh has pushed the peace process between the two nuclear-armed rivals, which have gone to war three times, despite skepticism inside his own government.

On Monday, a Pakistani delegation led by the home secretary will arrive in New Delhi to lay the groundwork for July’s expected talks.

“Cricket diplomacy” between the two countries is not new. Pakistan’s Former President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq paid a similar visit to India in 1987.