Most South Asians, whether from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka are ‘cricket fanatics’.
Cricket has actually got mixed up with the respective identities of these nations. More so for the people of India and Pakistan, who fight their battles in and outside the cricket pitch.
Pakistan has used ‘cricket nationalism’ against India even in Kashmir. In the past, most of the Kashmiris identified with and idolised Pakistani cricket stars like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Waseem Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and others. Not many people know that “cricket nationalism” promoted by Pakistan was an important contributory factor in the spread of extremism in Kashmir.
No wonder, there are still some people both in Pakistan and Kashmir, who celebrate India’s defeat more than they celebrate Pakistan’s victory in a cricket match.
And when it is a match between India and Pakistan, it is a battle across the subcontinent fought with bated breath and high tension. Like everything else and every institution in that country, Pakistan has also communalised its cricket team.
Statements of some Pakistan cricketers about playing against India are reflective of the level of indoctrination they are made to go through. Some people in Pakistan have even equated a cricket match against India as ‘jihad’.
Compared to that, the Indian cricket team has always reflected India’s diversity and that remains its greatest strength.
And when Pakistan planned the tour of various visiting cricketers for the Champions Trophy, which it is hosting next year, to certain scenic places in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), it wanted to make a ‘diplomatic’ point. The POK is under the illegal control of Pakistan. India has rightfully been claiming it to be an integral part, after the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, which included the current POK also, acceded with India in 1947.
Pakistan Cricket Board, in a post on its X social media handle, posted recently, “Get ready, Pakistan! The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 trophy tour kicks off in Islamabad on 16 November, also visiting scenic travel destinations like Skardu, Murree, Hunza and Muzaffarabad. Catch a glimpse of the trophy which Sarfaraz Ahmed lifted in 2017 at The Oval, from 16-24 November.”
All these places mentioned here including Skardu, Murree, Hunza and Muzaffarabad fall in the POK. India rightfully objected to such a visit. The Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Jay Shah wrote to the International Cricket Council (ICC) bringing on record the country's strong objection to such a plan by the PCB.
The “trophy tour” to POK was aimed by Pakistan to score a diplomatic point over India and seek to “legitimize” its illegal occupation of the area. After the ICC conveyed India’s objection to the tour, the PCB reportedly withdrew its tour programme of cricketers to POK.
Pakistan is hosting the Champions Trophy 2025.
India has refused to travel to Pakistan to play matches there. India has suggested an alternative neutral venue like Dubai for its matches, including the final. Pakistan Cricket Board has rejected the suggestion, thus leaving no option for India, but not to participate. The last time it was in 2008 when the Indian cricket team visited Pakistan and played there.
The PCB, apparently to tease India had planned the “site-seeing” tour inside POK, which India duly objected to and the PCB had to cancel the plan.
Interestingly, a few days back, a US-based Pakistani journalist raised the question of India not participating in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan during a US Department of State’s daily briefing.
The Pakistani journalist questioned the Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department Vedant Patel, whether India should mix sports with politics, to which Patel aptly replied that it was for India and Pakistan to decide between themselves.
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