ISLAMABAD: There is nothing quite like Pakistan and India playing against each other on the cricket field. The sport is something like a religion in the two biggest cricket playing countries combining for around 20 percent of the world’s population.
No rivalry in sports – not even Brazil-Argentina in soccer or Yankees-Red Sox – can match the stakes attached to Pakistan and India, where matches are rare opportunities for diplomacy amid a volatile region. Players from both teams relish the contests and the competition on-pitch is fierce with everyone completely aware of the significance. Refreshingly, however, the matches aren’t usually spiteful -- you feel the players embrace their roles as ambassadors.
This was underlined when India captain Virat Kohli accepted defeat so graciously in the aftermath of his team being stunned by underdog Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final in 2017. It is often left to great athletes – like Kohli – to demonstrate the requisite leadership and diplomacy sometimes lacking from bureaucrats.
Unfortunately, the festering relationship between Pakistan and India politically – which has soured in the past 12 months – spills over into cricket with politicians often using the sport as a propaganda tool.
Due to governing bodies the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) engaged in continual nasty rows, Pakistan and India have shockingly not played a Test series against each other since 2007.
The Indian government refuse to allow India’s cricket team to play Pakistan and the countries only meet in International Cricket Council tournaments such as last year’s World Cup when India defeated Pakistan in Manchester.
The rivalry could be renewed at the Asia Cup in September – a precursor to the T20 World Cup in Australia – but the status of the tournament is being dogged by bickering once again from Pakistan and India, who are hosting the tournament, Forbes reported in a column.
The mighty BCCI – cricket’s richest and most powerful governing body – has demanded the Asia Cup be moved to a neutral venue as was the case two years ago when the tournament shifted from India to the UAE.
"The question isn't about the PCB hosting the tournament. It is about the venue and as things stand now, it is quite clear that we would need a neutral venue,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying.
“There is no way that an Indian team can visit Pakistan to even participate in a multi-nation event like the Asia Cup. If the Asian Cricket Council is okay with an Asia Cup minus India then it is a different ball game. But if India is to participate in the Asia Cup, then the venue cannot be Pakistan.”
International cricket has steadily returned to Pakistan amid an improved security situation and last month they hosted Sri Lanka to end a decade-long drought of home Tests. But hosting India is obviously far more complex considering the political tumult although a possible compromise could be a neutral venue for matches involving India.
A defiant PCB, however, has threatened to pull out ofnext year’s T20 World Cup in India if India boycotts the Asia Cup. “We are currently considering two venues to host the Asia Cup,” PCB chief executive Wasim Khan told reporters in Lahore this week. “If India doesn’t come to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, we would also refuse participation in the 2021 T20 World Cup there.”
The PCB has been under scrutiny after reports surfaced in Pakistan that it had traded the Asia Cup hosting rights to Bangladesh during recent tense negotiations. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) initially refused to play Tests in Pakistan scheduled next month as per the new World Test Championship due to security concerns and wanted the two-match series to be played at a neutral venue.
After much posturing, the BCB eventually buckled and agreed earlier this month to tour Pakistan over three legs although innuendo has persisted that a barter between the countries ensued.
“This is totally incorrect and we haven’t spoken with Bangladesh about the Asia Cup at all,” Wasim Khan said. “This is an Asian Cricket Council tournament and the hosting rights were allotted to us by them, and we can’t change it. It’s in our mind and it’s our wish to host the Asia Cup in Pakistan.”
Despite the forthright comments from Wasim Khan, the formidable BCCI usually gets what it wants, which doesn’t bode well for Pakistan.
Whatever transpires – and undoubtedly the feuding will continue unabated – cricket fans hope Pakistan and India will instead start sparring on the pitch. Which sadly doesn’t happen nearly enough.