With President Pervez Musharraf due to arrive shortly to watch Pakistan play on Indian soil for the first time in six years, Rice promised to learn about cricket in a bid to inject pace into a slow peace process between the arch rivals.

"We respect this great democracy, we respect what it has been able to achieve for its people, we respect the challenges that it has to achieve more for its people and we respect the possibilities that the United States and India enjoy for global partnership," she told a press conference.

"And I am going to make a promise to the (Indian) foreign minister (Natwar Singh) right now, and that is that I will try to understand cricket and that will help," Rice vowed.

Singh, an ardent cricket fan, smiled.

"And I will try and understand baseball," he said.

With India and Pakistan on Wednesday starting the second of three Test matches, the minister added a special request.

"We look forward to welcoming general Musharraf here soon ... and I will also respectfully request him that he ensures that the Pakistani cricket team does not beat our team," he said.

A date has not been fixed for Musharraf's visit.

Cricket, the great sporting passion of the sub-continent, has periodically enabled political leaders to find some common ground.

Pakistan's late military dictator General Ziaul Haq visited India in 1987 to watch a game, describing the surprise move as "cricket diplomacy".

Cricket ties, disrupted due to political tensions, were revived in March last year when India toured Pakistan for their first Test series across the border since 1989.