Contrary to popular belief, bonhomie was not first introduced in India-Pakistan cricket series when India toured in 2004. It is time recorded history set the record straight.
In recent years the first steps away from animosity between the two countries was taken by Chennai spectators. In 1997 when Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar set a new world record for the highest score in ODIs (194) against India, the crowd rose to its feet in applause as soon as he reached the landmark.
Then two years later it was Chennai fans again that showed its sporting side after Pakistan won a nail-biting Test by just 12 runs. They overcame their dejection at the Indian defeat and gave the Pakistanis a standing ovation as they took an unprecedented victory lap around the MA Chidambaram stadium. Such an act by either team had been unheard of in India-Pakistan contests and nor had fans in either country responded in such a manner to any form of success by the opposing team or an individual. Just two years earlier, an ODI at Karachi had to be curtailed as the Indian fielders on the boundary were being pelted by stones.
It was, however, the Indian hockey team that received the most hostile reception when they visited Pakistan for the World Cup in 1990. The Benazir Bhutto government sponsored large groups of violent spectators who made the championship a living hell for the Indian players, raising the Kashmir issue at every match. There were reports that the Indian players were even assaulted by hotel staff once they stepped out of their rooms.
Though the team flopped, they were awarded the Fair-Play Award by the FIH (International Hockey Association) as they stayed on in Pakistan despite intense provocation.
{{/usCountry}}Though the team flopped, they were awarded the Fair-Play Award by the FIH (International Hockey Association) as they stayed on in Pakistan despite intense provocation.
{{/usCountry}}It was the Indian board that had backed Pakistan for Test status in the ICC. This was instrumental in Pakistan touring India for the first time in 1952, just five years after Partition. Pakistan’s stalwart opening bat Hanif Mohammed wrote in his autobiography:
“We were met with such warmth and treated as family. Everywhere we went we were treated with civility… It was a credit to Indian hospitality. We were overwhelmed with the reception.”
Another Pakistan legend, Fazal Mahmood, wrote: “We enjoyed the Indian tour both on and off the field and were simply overwhelmed by the friendliness of people at the centres. They welcomed us with open hearts.”
India visited Pakistan two years later, only to be met by a wall of hostility wherever they went. The manager (and former captain) Lala Amarnath recalled: “There was one single purpose — to break the spirit of the Indian team off the field so that it could tell on their performance on the field.”
The Pakistan captain, A.H. Kardar, in an inebriated state and in the company of three hefty assistants, assaulted Amarnath in the hotel lobby in Lahore. The incident is vividly narrated by Rajender Amarnath in his marvellous book on his father.
When Test cricket was renewed in 1978 after a gap of 17 years, the visiting Indian captain, Bishan Singh Bedi, claimed his phones were tapped. His Pakistan counterpart Mushtaq Mohammed in his pre-series pep-talk told his players to treat the series like a ‘jehad’ while senior player Majid Khan — echoing the words of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto — commented that “Pakistan is ready for a 1,000-year war with India”.
This is not to claim that Pakistani touring teams have not been given a torrid time in India too. But Indian fans should be given credit for both setting the trend of friendship in 1952 and then breaking away from years of hostility first witnessed in Pakistan in 1954 and perpetrated in Sharjah till the Nineties.
The writer is a sports journalist & author