India v Pak: Deeper than just cricket
BEYOND THE BOUNDARY One of the fiercest rivalries in sport has also helped thaw crossborder relations like when India toured Pak in 2004
“Any spare tickets for sale?” On the road to Edgbaston, the refrain from the touts went unanswered. Demand for the India-Pakistan match was so great that the ground could have sold out its 25,000 capacity eight times over.
The backdrop to the match was grim. On Saturday night, London was hit by a terrorist attack that left at least seven people dead and many injured. It was the third terrorist attack in Britain in three months. The hotels of the eight teams competing in the Champions Trophy, all went into lockdown in response.
Outside the ground in Birmingham, while vuvuzelas sounded, India fans huddled around a sign that read, “London, Manchester, Mumbai: Terror Never Wins.”
“The match should be a symbol of peace,” said Akshay Amare, 27, a software engineer from Mumbai, who is now working in England. The match began with a minute’s silence to commemorate the dead in London.
These circumstances — and rain in Birmingham, which interrupted play several times — combined to create a slightly subdued feel, for all the horns and flags inside the stadium.
Fans realised that the chance to see these two teams is rare. Apart from international competitions, for which it makes an exception, the Indian government refuses to allow India play Pakistan. India’s sports minister, Vijay Goel, recently said that “cricket and terrorism can’t go hand in hand,” and that there would be no return to bilateral cricket relations.
The cricket rivalry is often regarded as the fiercest in any sport. When India and Pakistan have met on the cricket field, it has been fashionable to speak of “cricket diplomacy.” And on occasion — notably during India’s trip to Pakistan in 2004, its first in 14 years — the sport has helped to thaw relations.
Yet the sense remains that, even in Birmingham, where 1 in 5 of the population are British Indian or British Pakistani, the fixture has lost a little of its edge. Before the match, Virat Kohli, described it as “just another game.” While Kohli did not speak for the fans, there was little obvi- ous antagonism between supporters of different teams, happily taking selfies with one another, and sitting among one another in a way unimaginable to rival supporters at a Premier League football match.
In the stands, Indian blue outnumbered Pakistani green by 3 to 1, a metaphor for how this has become an increasingly lopsided rivalry. For most of the rivalry’s history, Pakistan was not merely India’s equal, but its superior. Pakistan arrived in Birmingham with a 72-51 record against India in ODIs. But now Pakistan has slipped to eighth in ODIs, five places below India, and sixth in Tests, while India are first.
While India’s finances are immune to not playing Pakistan, the impasse is financially crippling for Pakistan, especially as it has not been able to play a home series against top-ranked opposition since 2009. Pakistan signed an agreement to play six series with India from 2015-23, including four in which Pakistan would be the designated hosts, earning around $50 million in broadcasting rights in each series. The Pakistan board’s constant threats to sue India for reneging on this agreement reflect the lack of equilibrium in the relationship.
Still, at least the paucity of meetings has one obvious beneficiary: the International Cricket Council. Matches between India and Pakistan in global tournaments are watched by half a billion people, and are so commercially valuable that the council fixes the draw to ensure India and Pakistan face each other in the group stages, as they have done for five consecutive ICC events. On the previous four occasions, India had won. In Birmingham, the sepulchral skies posed more threat to that record than Pakistan’s cricketers.
The rain briefly hinted at a reprieve for Pakistan, until it gave way to a sumptuous afternoon. But even had rain intervened, and led to the match being abandoned, it would not have obscured an underlying truth. Perhaps never has the gulf between Indian and Pakistani cricket been as great as on Sunday, when India walked away with a 124-run victory. NYT