India, Pakistan fans find common ground
PAKISTAN and India fans mingled at Edgbaston on Sunday (31) during the much-anticipated Commonwealth Games clash between the South Asian rivals, with supporters hailing the occasion as a chance to increase harmony.
Australia’s cricketers are favourites for gold in Birmingham but there is nothing to match the fierce rivalry between the two cricket-obsessed South Asian nations.
Political tensions mean cricketers from the two countries currently only meet in multi-nation events.
India cut bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan
after attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that authorities blamed on Pakistani militants.
They have not faced each other in a bilateral men’s series since Pakistan toured India in 2012/13 for a set of one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches during a brief thaw in relations.
But there was none of that tension as thousands of fans from the sizeable Birmingham-based Indian and Pakistan communities gathered at Edgbaston to watch the women’s teams do battle on Sunday.
Spectators tried to keep dry in the steady early drizzle as Birmingham rock band Electric Light Orchestra’s ‘Mr Blue Sky’ blared out.