It’s just a game, right?
Considering that it was perhaps the biggest win in the history of Pakistan’s favourite sport, if we gauge the potential impact, one would have to witness something exceedingly repulsive to leave even the slightest of bad tastes in mouth. But there’s no challenge that’s overwhelming enough for the neck of the woods defined by the Indian subcontinent.
If the baap-beta Father’s Day jokes weren’t nauseating enough – and mind you they were promoted by many who would bellow at their loudest against institutional patriarchy – and if the religionist jibes weren’t bigoted enough, the sheer politicisation of an event that was a sporting spectacle in more ways than one, was downright hideous. After all it was the second greatest moment in Pakistan’s ODI cricket history.
Let’s start with the man who led the side to the first. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan who went on a Twitter tirade aimed at Najam Sethi after the opening defeat against India, was conspicuously silent when the national side was making a comeback in the tournament. It was only after qualifying for the final that Khan’s ‘advice’ for the national side came to the fore.
Even his first ‘celebratory’ tweet after Pakistan won the final was coupled with a message to ‘fight corruption’. Yes, the moment the entire nation had forgotten their differences – even if temporarily – Imran considered it opportune to plug his political agenda.
Following the final, PTI supporters in London actually attacked Sethi and his wife Jugnu Mohsin. The official PTI social media accounts proudly shared the video of the PTI fans chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go’ when they saw Sethi. Reminder: this too was on the same night the team won the Champions Trophy.
Meanwhile, Indian journalist and the Managing Director of the newly launched Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, who self-identifies as ‘Pakistan’s migraine’, had warned the Kashmiris against supporting Pakistan before the final. Clearly many didn’t pay heed, with Indian-administered Kashmir erupting with celebrations following Pakistan’s win.
It’s basically the Kashmir issue – with Islamabad accusing New Delhi of illegal occupation, and India accusing Pakistan of fueling cross border jihadism – that is at the heart of India refusing to play Pakistan in a bilateral series. So for many it became even harder to not politicise a cricket match between India and Pakistan.
And then you look at the players and wonder why it’s so difficult to keep Indo-Pak cricketing ties separate from all the political conflicts that the two states might have. Indian captain Virat Kohli gave a tutorial in gracefully accepting defeat in the post-match conference, where he was full of praise for the Pakistan side. Even during the ceremony, you could see Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Shoaib Malik and Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mehmood sharing a light moment.
After the team got back home on Tuesday, Man of the Tournament Hasan Ali acknowledged that Indian and Pakistani cricketers are ‘only opponents within the ropes’, they’re friends outside of it. Why can’t the states, and more crucially, the cricket boards replicate that?
The hatred for India and Pakistan is artificially created upon indoctrination of generations. There are countless videos of Indian and Pakistani fans dancing together during the two matches that the sides played in the Champions Trophy that prove that. It is also normal for Indians and Pakistanis to be the closest as part of the overseas South Asian community in the West. But somehow it’s almost mandatory to express hate for the other for one to establish one’s skewed concept of patriotism.
Considering the coverage that the India Pakistan final got, which included the likes of Spanish newspaper Marca – in a country which hasn’t had anything to do with cricket at all – shows the level of interest that the match generates worldwide. According to estimates it was the third most watched cricket match ever.
It is, hence, important for those political actors impeding the flourishment of Indo-Pak cricket to back off and let the two nations and the world get what they want. Similarly, those who claim to be the well-wishers of cricket itself shouldn’t let the sport be used to drive home their political viewpoints.
At a time when Pakistan is still reeling from multiple crises, the Champions Trophy win has brought much needed relief and joy for the nation. At the same time, it coincides with the rise of Pakistan Super League, which itself played a major role, in the triumph.
Cricket, the PSL, or the PCB, do not belong to any political party. It is the one sport whose popularity transcends all socio-religious divides in the country and hence has the power to overcome those very faultlines.
If anything cricket should be used as a tool to unite the nation and help everyone overcome, or embrace, their differences. Let’s not forget that it was the love for the love of cricket that saw the Gaddafi Stadium being filled up for the Zimbabwe matches and the PSL final, despite the most ominous of terror threats.
A nation that can look at terror in the eye to get a glimpse of cricket, can do one step further for it as well and unite.