E-Paper
Politics off, cricket on:Over to the great game
India vs Pakistan: No seats available despite a capacity of 132,000. Hotels expensive, fans desperate for tickets. Rivalry straddled by political tensions.
No seats available despite a capacity of 132,000. Hotels so expensive that fans try to make a run on hospital beds. Request from Virat Kohli: Don’t ask me for tickets. And every time Babar Azam’s phone buzzes, someone is asking if they can somehow be let into the ground.
Saturday is not a normal World Cup day. It’s India vs Pakistan.
It’s the height of cricket rivalry in the subcontinent – played with high expectations, higher octane, a security shroud, and with only one Pakistan supporter, superfan Bashir chacha, an American citizen who has travelled from Chicago, in the stadium.
If you think this stacks the odds either way; don’t. For the pressure of a match such as this goes far beyond a screaming stadium.
This is a rivalry straddled by the baggage of Partition, by four wars, and by decades of political tensions. Not for the first time, cultural exchanges and cricketing ties across the border are at a roadblock. Since 2013, it’s only at multi-nation events that they have clashed in. And even these meetings are questioned from time to time by hardliners who feel that relations should be completely cut off.
Even on Friday – match-eve, normally a time for mundane press briefings – the politics could not be kept aside.
A question was posed to Azam about wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan dedicating the last win against Sri Lanka to “brothers and sisters in Gaza” amid the Israel-Palestine conflict. “I think it is better if we stick to talking about cricket – you are taking the conversation in another direction,” he replied.
So here’s hoping that for about eight hours on Saturday, the great game will take over. That the politics will be forgotten, the baggage set aside, and all that will matter will be the cricket.
History favours India who enjoy a 7-0 record in ODI World Cups. But India skipper Rohit Sharma was keen to stress on Friday that it won’t have a bearing on the outcome of Saturday’s game.
“I don’t think it’s a psychological advantage. Because you have to play good cricket every day. So, it’s important for us as a team that we should not pay too much attention to what is already over. And we should pay attention to a fresh day. So, both the teams will start evenly. I don’t think there is a favourite or an underdog. Both teams are equal before they go into the game. It’s just about handling the pressure, dictating terms in your own way,” Sharma told a packed press room, bringing some mundanity back to the proceedings.
Azam, too, pointed to Pakistan’s victories over India in the 2021 T20 World Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy final. “We were not able to execute in the past, but we changed it in 2011 (2021 T20 World Cup) and 2019 (2017 Champions Trophy). We won against India in the World Cup. We hadn’t done that before, but we did it. We believe that we can do it and we will go with full confidence. Tomorrow you never know, but we will give our best,” the Pakistan captain said.
The contest is likely to boil down to a battle between India’s batters and Pakistan’s bowlers, in keeping with their traditional strengths.
For India, Sharma, Kohli and KL Rahul are in form, and their battle against a Pakistan attack led by left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi will make for a riveting watch. Afridi is at his most dangerous with the new ball, pitching it up, swinging it back and targeting the front pad of India’s predominantly right-handed batting line-up. If India’s top order can resist the temptation of playing across the line, there should be runs on offer on a pitch where the New Zealand batters made merry in the tournament opener against England.
In the end, this game counts for no more than two points in the table in the preliminary phase. But try telling that to the 132,000 who have moved heaven and earth to make it to the game.
This, after all, is not just cricket. This is India vs Pakistan.
