A cricket match between India and Pakistan is “fought” like a “clash of civilisations”.
Even if the players in the two teams may want to play it like a game of cricket only, the pressure from their supporters in the respective countries is so much that the sportsmanship goes to the background and fierce “hostility” takes over.
Paranoid fans turn it into a war between India and Pakistan. No wonder special prayer meetings are held in both the nations for divine intervention in support of the respective countries.
The game of cricket has emerged as the most potent expression of “nationalism” in the Indian subcontinent. A cricket match between India and Pakistan is akin to a “full-fledged” war between the two nations.
The common sentiment among cricket fans in both nations, with almost the entire population becoming supporters during the match, is that regardless of whether their team wins against any other opponent or not, they must defeat each other.
Hostility is mutual and reciprocal. Even those who don’t remotely watch cricket in normal course just are glued to their television sets to watch an India-Pakistan match.
Even hockey matches between India and Pakistan are keenly followed and watched - may be not to the extent of cricket - with just one wish that the other team gets defeated come what may. The “wish” across the Radcliffe Line is mutual - to defeat the other side.
Apparently it provides a “cathartic” feeling to the people of the two countries that “their” nation has not only won but defeated the “enemy”, as if in a war.
This “cricket rivalry” has a lot to do with the political atmosphere prevailing in the subcontinent, particularly the long-lasting hostility between India and Pakistan that gets manifested during the matches.
Given the deep involvement of people with a cricket match between India and Pakistan, the political leadership in the respective countries cannot afford to remain indifferent. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi rushed with congratulatory messages for team India on their victory over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday. Otherwise, it was just one of the league matches and not the final to decide the overall winner of the Champions Trophy.
Not surprisingly, there was no such congratulatory message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over this victory, apparently for the obvious reason that it was like any other league match. But the Congress did not want to be seen lagging in cheering up “team India” for defeating arch rivals, Pakistan, so it rushed with “congratulations”.
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The reason why the Government of India is firmly against letting the Indian cricket team play in Pakistan is its genuine apprehensions about the security of the players, if they go to that country. The security risk is not from the “non-state” actors, but from Pakistan's “deep state” dominated by the Pakistan military which can go to any extent to “settle scores” with India.
The way Pakistan cricket fans react over their country’s defeat by India, is just a symptom of the paranoid and pathological hatred prevailing in that country against India. So many fans say it openly that they don’t mind losing to any other team across the world, but not against India, which is their “enemy”.
Some fans even use religious idiom to identify India as an enemy practicing a different religion. This is despite the fact that the Indian team is most inclusive with players from all religions playing for the country.
Sporting rivalries are not uncommon. These prevail across the world and across all sports. There are fierce rivalries between the supporters of different football clubs in Europe. But there is a clear line that divides “rivalry” from “hostility/enmity”. Supporting a particular team, without hating the rival team is something different. The support for club and country teams elsewhere is not driven by any ideological, community or religious affiliations, but just for the love of the sport and players. Families are divided over supporting particular teams. Obviously, support for different teams does not lead to any hostility and enmity between the family members.
There is hardly any scope of “fierce hostility” getting subsided in any way in the near future. The hostility has a monetary angle also. A cricket match between India and Pakistan leads to maximum TRPs. No cricketing event is watched more than an India-Pak match. This obviously generates humongous revenues for the “organisers”, that include so many people. Even if, by any chance, the hostility between fans of the two countries subsides, the marketing forces will not let it diminish, as they would keep on fanning it instead.
The fans in two countries appear to be searching for some sort of cathartic relief from cricket matches, willingly suspending their disbelief, to believe that they are watching a real battle in the hope of "their" country crushing the enemy.
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