UPON his arrival at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday evening during Pakistan’s training session, former Indian wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani enquired if any of his contemporaries across the border had travelled with the team to his country for the World Cup.

An integral part of the winning team of the 1983 edition, Kirmani kept scanning the ground from the edge of it until he was told that none of the former Pakistan players, who he played against, are present there.

Donning a round hat, a bright yellow shirt and a cargo jeans suiting his funky aura, the 73-year-old looked away from the stands as news reporters and members of the Karnataka state cricket community started to surround him.

Kirmani, with his wit and laughter that followed, responded to each person war­mly, perfectly representing his views on what the sport of cricket should bring along.

“Peace,” as he would go on to say, what cricket should be played for.

What Kirmani suggested wasn’t exactly what cricket offered when Pakistan played India last Saturday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad.

A part of the 120,000-strong crowd, nearly all of them the home team’s fans, chanted politically charged slogans, booed the Pakistan captain and built an atmosphere that wouldn’t only intimidate but also demoralise any team whatsoever.

Holding tight to the notion that cricket was a “gentleman’s game”, Kirmani called for strict rules against bullying and abuse from the crowd towards the players.

“Whoever makes such chants in the crowd that could demoralise or hurt members of the participating sides should be punished immediately and consequently banned from entering the stadium,” he told Dawn.

“Friendliness and brotherhood should be observed during a cricket match.”

Kirmani, who represented India in 88 Tests and 49 One-day Internationals from 1976 to 1986, expects the Bangalore crowd to be more sporting than that of Ahmedabad.

“People here [in Bangalore] are polite and they love watching good cricket,” he said.

The Chennai-born player expected batters to display fireworks at the M. Chinnaswamy, an intimate cricket facility with a batting-friendly pitch and shorter boundaries as compared to other arenas in India.

“It will be fun to watch Pakistan and Australia play here,” he said, while observing that it was still an open World Cup, which has seen the latter win just one out of their first three matches.

“I have already predicted that Pakistan will go on to make the semis,” Kirmani would go on to say as he broke into his trademark laughter.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2023