At the intersection on the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road that runs beside the Dubai International Stadium, a group of Pakistan supporters are restlessly waiting for an unheeding policeman in a traditional thawb to let them past the steel barricades. He gestures to them to be patient, shouting “antazir, antazir.”
A couple of India supporters in shiny blue jerseys joined the crowd and one of them quipped at the policeman: “Inko kya pata hain cricket ke bare mein (what do they know about cricket)?” A peel of laughter crackled, even drawing a smile on the face of the stern policeman.
Turns out that the delay was due to the team buses arriving and they would have to wait for 15 more minutes. As soon as they heard the words team bus, the excitement kicked in and the wait assumed a new meaning. They slowly unpacked the flags in the bag, turned the camera into selfie mode and tuned their mind to match mood. But there was not the fervid hyper-enthusiasm that usually brims before encounters between the two teams.
More so for Pakistan supporters as their country is wading through a flood crisis. Their faces betrayed a sense of quiet detachment, as though their heart was not fully into the match. Agrees Ansari, an accountant from Karachi. “It was difficult to get this ticket and this was supposed to be one of the happiest days in my life. But how can I be happy when people back home are struggling for life, fighting a real battle?” he asks.
The last few days were fearful, as devastating floods have surged again in the Sindh province, overflowing riverbanks and bridges, inundating houses and fields and killing more than 100 people this weekend. The heavy monsoon since mid-June, that has ravaged most parts of Pakistan, has accounted for the lives of 1,000-odd people, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority. More than 33 million people have been affected by flooding this summer, the agency said, with more than 50,000 rescued and close to 500,000 living in relief camps. Worse, there are official warnings of more rain and floods. “The last two days were spent calling my relatives and friends (in those areas). Most of the time, the calls would not go. But I would keep trying, and luckily got through a few of them,” Ansari says.
At a dire time like this, a cricket match, even though they are playing India, seems trivial. The match offers no escape from reality but for Ansari and his friends, it’s an opportunity to stand with the nation and show support. “To show that we are behind the country in these troubled times. This would be a very emotional game for us, we would pray for the team harder, and cheer for them louder,” he says.
Standing with the nation
Members of the Pakistan team too showed their support by wearing black armbands. As the national anthem played out before the match, they proudly repeated the lines, applauded the crowd and bounced away into the dressing room. Some of them had already expressed their grief on Twitter as well as press conferences. “Prayers for all the flood victims in different regions of the country. This is the time to stand as a nation and help them as much as possible. Step forward and do your best. We have discussed the situation among players and would donate some amount for flood victims,” skipper Babar Azam said during the pre-match press conference.
Teammate Shahnawaz Dahani put out a touching image of two shirtless men standing amidst ruins, crying for help on Twitter with an SOS to the government and NGOs: “Condition of people of Northern Sindh, Balochistan and Southern Punjab. Torrential rain and floods have killed and made people homeless. I request the government and NGOs, step forward and help them,” he wrote.
The 21-year-old seamer is from the farming city of Larkana, one of the regions the floods have ravaged, in the Sindh province. Former captain Shoaib Malik would allocate the entire prize money he received from the Kashmir Premier League for flood victims while Shahid Afridi’s NGO SAFoundation has sprung into action to provide food and shelter to the victims, besides being actively engaged in rescue operations in Quetta, Winder and Pishin in Balochistan. Remarkably, the floods have unified a nation waging through a political crisis.
But as match time winked in, they kept all their worries and concerns aside and joined the revelry. The half-filled stands buoyantly greeted both teams and soaked every moment of the players warming up. The drums and whistles were out, but the noise drowned out in the collective expending of human palms and vocal cords. By the time the two captains walked out for the toss, the stands were full and vibrant, resplendent with varied colours as only a contest between the two could produce. And as Bhuvneshwar Kumar strode in to bowl the first ball of the day to Mohammad Rizwan, the wait was finally over. For Indian fans, a rare meeting with the favourite frenemies, and for Pakistan diehards a fleeting balm to soothe the calamity unfurling back home.
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