THIS refers to the letter ' Common goal for India and Pakistan' (March 12) by D. K. Mukundan, suggesting that India and Pakistan should revert to grass fields and try to rejuvenate hockey in Asia.

India declined as a hockey superpower in the late 1960s — during the age of grass-fields, and Pakistan remained a hockey superpower till mid1990s, well into the age of Astroturf. So it's clear that subcontinental hockey can survive on Astroturf.

The real reason behind the decline of hockey in the subcontinent is the phenomenal rise of popularity of cricket. It is no coincidence that the subcontinental hockey declined after mid-1980s just after India won the Cricket World Cup in 1983. In 1987, both the countries were semi-finalists. Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup and another subcontinental cousin, Sri Lanka rose like a phoenix to win the 1996 World Cup.

Cricket is still too popular to give any chance to hockey. The only way subcontinental hockey can survive is to professionalise it and alternative competitions like T20 are devised in the subcontinent.

SANJAY SAXENA
Dehradun