It’s just cricket…

“Nationalism does nothing but teach you to hate people you never met, and to take pride in accomplishments you had no part in.”

Don’t get this the wrong way. I’m not one of those bleeding heart liberals who are unbearable to watch an India-Pakistan cricket match with, the sort who confuse any celebration of one’s national team with militant jingoism. Because even though I’m an extremely emphatic proponent of peace between the two countries, I “bleed green” when the two giants square off against each other on the cricket stadium. As the running joke says: ‘Aman ki Asha is hereby suspended till the end of the match.’

Such type of rooting for one’s team makes the game more interesting to watch than objectively and clinically assessing the strokes, bowling techniques and match stats. It is also a celebration of your country’s talent. But that is where it should end.

It is just a game where people throw stuff and hit stuff and catch stuff. It is all well and good to have a passion for the sport, even if that passion borders on hysteria at times. But to tie political statements to it, and read national narratives into it, is ridiculous.

Patriotism, much like religion, can bring out both the best and worst in people. Consider this following video clip (online audiences only) by Talat Hussain.

So, Afridi is to be blamed for good sportsmanship and a healthy attitude towards a traditional foe?

On Afridi patting counterpart MS Dhoni on the back, Hussein says Afridi was acting as if the Indian captain was a childhood buddy. “Diplomacy doesn’t become you,” he said. Only play the game. After all, has the other team’s captain ever done the same? In the last ODI World Cup, after the Indians defeated us, as they always do in World Cups, MS Dhoni had made it a point to mention in the post-match ceremony that Pakistan had still got a better match record in India-Pakistan matches. But perhaps Mr Hussein skips everything but the game.

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We’re right next door to India, so it is easy to overlook one thing: our sheer size. We might seem diminutive in comparison to our eastern neighbour, but we’re still one of the largest nations on the planet.

So, in this cricket-crazy nation, the squad of eleven or twelve players that finally makes it to the national team – out of the teeming millions who would spring at the opportunity to do so – would be pretty decent players. Even the weakest link on the team, the one or two players everyone loves to hate on, the sifarishis, as it were, would be absolutely amazing if you were to see them playing in a local ground. The sort of prowess that kids from several neighbourhoods beyond would come to watch in awe, even if they didn’t know who this player was.

Yes, yes, I know; we’re not to set the bar that low. If they’re splendid at the local grounds, that’s where they should stay. International cricket is where you separate the men from the boys. All that, duly noted. The above was only meant to point something to the battalion of cricket experts on TV droning on about the ineptitude of the boys in green. And here, I’m talking not just about the specialist sports pundits, but also the seasonal cricket analysts who are on loan from the political talk shows. To see these overweight, garrulous men (and women), whose paunches are only smaller than their egos, go on about how out-of-shape and lazy the team members are, is a macabre sight.

Now, I understand that even this is an unfair thing to say. Analysts are not supposed to be good at the game. The pundits are supposed to be judged by their analysis, not their own athletic ability. But their very analysis in question is so pedestrian, that it is difficult not to bring that up, specially when many of them actually do try to validate their claims by giving their own back-in-the-day-when-I-used-to-play stories.

The number of famous people in Pakistan who say (and actually think) that they would have been cricketers had they not been doing what they are currently doing, is larger than you think. Salman Ahmad, Najam Sheraz, Atif Aslam, all say they would have been cricketers had they not been pop-stars. So do some actors. So does the prime minister himself. So do many political journalists, including Talat Hussain. Hussein might say his case is different because he was actually on one of the beta teams, but thousands are and don’t make the cut for the big league.

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A big shout out to the women’s team, though. An earlier (implied) jab by Afridi, about how women need to stay in the kitchen and not play sports, has come back to haunt him. Sana Mir and her girls didn’t respond too harshly back then. Revenge, the ancient Arab proverb goes, is a dish best served cold.

It was good to say Talat Hussain also criticising Afridi for this legitimate point.

A word to the world’s cricketing establishment, though. Women’s sports all over the world, are a little tough to get audiences for. It is sad that other than tennis, no women’s version of a sport is taken seriously. An attempt could be made for cricket. One attempt to this end, could have been to hold their tournaments at a different time. And then leverage some of that India-Pakistan hysteria to some good effect.