6 min readOct 14, 2023 07:23 PM IST
First published on: Oct 14, 2023 at 03:59 PM IST
What do they know of cricket who only cricket know? As India takes on Pakistan at Ahmedabad in the ongoing cricket World Cup’s most celebrated game so far, it’s difficult to resist turning to this rhetorical question posed several decades ago by the Marxist intellectual and arguably the greatest scholar of the sport, C L R James.
The fan reaction to the once-in-a-four-year extravaganza of the country’s best-loved sport has been tepid at best. Large pockets of stadiums in matches not involving India have been empty. Even India matches have seen nothing close to full house, stands weren’t exactly jampacked when the hosts beat Australia after overcoming early jitters last week.
However, an India-Pakistan contest is different. Cricket aficionados may speak of the Ashes in the same breath as the Brazil-Argentina rivalry in football. Others might draw attention to the high-octane cricket in India-Australia matches in recent times. But a match between the subcontinental giants evokes emotions like no other. When players of the two sides square off on the cricket field, the dhol beats are louder and the decibel levels of Sachin-Sachin chants –a decade after he retired – are at their highest, as the fans live every ball.
If the run-up to the clash is any indication, all fears of 50-over-cricket being on its last legs can be put off, at least by a day. Most 5-star hotels in Ahmedabad have reportedly hiked up their tariffs by more than 150 per cent and flight prices have skyrocketed. The online trip planner Make My Trip has joined hands with tourist firm Home Stay and Villas to issue an invitation to Pakistan fans. The ad invokes the “Indian tradition” of welcoming guests, and says “tough times bring friends together and we want to take this opportunity to build a better bond with you”. Heart-warming gesture? Hopes are nipped in the bird: Visuals of a shattered TV screen, a poster, “Boys Playz Well” – a difficult-to-miss taunting reference to former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq’s spoken English – and three men in green colours drowning their disappointment in food and drinks. The usual light-hearted banter predicting the result much before the toss, then?
The ad goes on to promise discounts to fans from Pakistan based on the margin of their team’s loss. A harmless marketing idea, then? After all, the BCCI has also spared no attempt to showcase that the India-Pak match is like no other World Cup match. But by all accounts, people from Pakistan will not be able to take the bait, even if they wanted to, and the Narendra Modi stadium will be a cheering sea of blue without even a speck of green. For Pakistani fans, “Aithi Devo Bhava” was a dead letter a few weeks after the WC schedule was drawn. Last heard, Bashir Chacha, Pakistan cricket’s talisman supporter who makes it a point to attend the team’s important matches had not managed a ticket for the marquee clash at Ahmedabad. Reports in the run-up to the match have spoken of the disappointment of Pakistanis at not getting visas in time to cross the border. Only a handful of Pakistani journalists have reportedly received travel permission, which did not come until the eve of the marquee clash.
Why rub it in for the fan who is not going to be there for the match, anyway? Make My Trip and Home Stay and Villa deserve no benefit of doubt – not even by the lowest standards of gracelessness that spectators can shrink to during Indo-Pak encounters.
It would of course be naïve to talk of sport without referring to its social and cultural context. When it comes to India and Pakistan, where cricket often assumes the proportion of religion it’s very hard to separate it from politics. The issues dividing these two countries, and its people are complex and fraught and rivalry gets a defined contour during cricket matches. In 1996, sports lovers were struck by the lack of grace shown by the Bengaluru crowd, who resorted to jeers and taunts as the legendary Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad left the field for the final time after a fiercely contested World Cup match.
Sport, however, transcends parochialism several times. Barely three years after Bengaluru, the Pakistani team received a standing ovation in Chennai after it defied little Sachin Tendulkar to win a closely-fought test match. That was Atithi Devo Bhava in its truest sense. Amongst the greatest thrills of a sporting encounter is to watch fans egging their sides on. It’s a pity that the latest India-Pakistan clash in a stadium named after the Indian PM will be deprived of this elemental joy.
The Make My Trip-Home Villa and Stay ad perpetuates this unsporting spirit.
Will fans in blue at the Narendra Modi stadium make up?
kaushik.dasgupta@expressindia.com
An India-Pakistan contest is different. The match between the subcontinental giants evokes emotions like no other. (AP Photo) 
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