WITH so much going around these days on the Pakistan-India front, there is much speculation in the media and in private discussions about the possibility of sporting links getting revived between the two countries. And when we talk of ‘sporting links’, we basically talk of cricket, because in the sphere of other games India tends to take a different line, and it was only when things got really bad that it included the other games in its boycott list.
And the reasons are both simple and not-so-simple. Cricket, along with the film industry, is a passion with the Indian masses as well as the elite. Any loss on the cricket field does not go down well with the Indians, and a loss against Pakistan is a catastrophe. For much of the time when India has refused to play Pakistan, its team, as a whole, was clearly less talented than what Pakistan had, and it was only natural for the Indians to shy away on one pretext or the other. In the last year or so, the equation has changed, and that may encourage the Indians to take the field.
The not-so-simple reason for the Indians to refuse visiting Pakistan is the involvement of huge finances. If you look at the way things have gone in the last decade or so, it is quite clear that the Indians have preferred to play host to Pakistan, not just on bilateral basis, but also by organizing multi-nation tournaments and even unofficial side-shows. This is because anything involving the two teams means huge cash by way of television rights, gate-receipts and other related avenues.
So they have been able to make their money, but when it comes to visiting Pakistan, they go for a boycott, thereby depriving us of our chance to reap the benefits. This, indeed, is part of the political mindset. And if you are struggling to imagine the kind of money we are talking of, just recall the recent English desperation to play host to Zimbabwe even after they had themselves refused to honour their own World Cup commitments there. And that, too, hardly a month of that boycott!
So, if playing host to Zimbabwe, one of the junior sides in world cricket, should mean that much to England, just imagine what it would mean in Pakistan-India terms. It is astronomical, at the very least. It is like England refusing to play in Australia, even though the relative strengths of the two sides is not worth much comparing.
Pakistan and India, on the other hand, are of more or less the same strength, and, whoever may win it, the competition is always tense and, thus, thrilling. Take, for instance, the three-Test series in the late 1970s, which Pakistan won 2-0 under Mushtaq Mohammad, or the six-Test series in the early 1980s, which Pakistan won 3-0 under Imran Khan. Though the margin of victory for Pakistan was comfortable and convincing on both occasions, none of the matches were one-sided. The same applies to the series under Asif Iqbal, which Indian had won 2-0, if my memory serves me right.
The fact is that the thrill and passion that gets generated by Pakistan-India ties has no match in the international arena. The Ashes lost its intensity a long time ago ever since England began to go down the ladder in world cricket, and it coincided with the phenomenal rise in Australian fortunes. Things have come to a pass where one can predict the net outcome of at least the next couple of Ashes series.
It is unfortunate that the players and the peoples of the two countries — indeed, cricket fans around the world — are deprived of such a feast that only the two countries can provide. There is much talk these days of a possible revival of sporting ties between the two nations, and I do hope that they turn out to be true. However, let’s not jump the gun, and be realistic. I, for one, would prefer to keep my fingers crossed.
WITH so much going around these days on the Pakistan-India front, there is much speculation in the media and in private discussions about the possibility of sporting links getting revived between the two countries. And when we talk of ‘sporting links’, we basically talk of cricket, because in the sphere of other games India tends to take a different line, and it was only when things got really bad that it included the other games in its boycott list.
