"A kind of primitive behaviour had takenover, raw emotions had been unleashed, people as if possessed went into a trance, theireyes glazed. These were not people going to a cricket match. These were people going intobattle."
-Pakistani commentator Omar Kureishi on Indian spectator frenzy at thequarter-finals of the 1996 World Cup, Bangalore.
That was before match-fixing hit the ceiling inboth countries. That was before the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power here. That wasbefore the Pakistan Muslim League came to power there. And that was before the two nationswent nuclear nine months ago and before Balasaheb Thackeray went ballistic nine days ago.
The big question, now that it looks certain (ordoes it?) that Wasim Akram & Co will play here, is: will the tour go off smoothly,incident-free, paving the way for peace, harmony and friendship between two peoples tornasunder by a cartographer's scalpel in 1947and bigoted politicians since?
Or, will the two-Test match series only serve tofuel bellicose chauvinism, belligerent nationalism and competitive jingoism on eitherside? Sapping, in the process, the energies of our (and their) overworked cricketers to dobattle in the 1999 World Cupjust 120...119...118... days away?
Touring under siege: Very few oneither side want the tour postponed or cancelled. India and Pakistan may be in a state ofundeclared war over Kashmir, but as Kapil Dev says: If politicians have a problem, theymust battle it out on the political front, not on the cricket field.
After all, cricket's just a game. And, moreimportantly, buckling in now to what historian Mushirul Hassan calls the proto-fascisttendencies of the Senathe digging up of the Bombay pitch in 1991, the Delhi pitch now, andthe formation of suicide-squads to disrupt the matchwould send out all the wrong signals.
Says a former Indian legend now in New Zealand:Till yesterday, Thackeray seemed to be on the back foot. Now he seems to be jumpingoutside the crease. Adds former Pakistan interior minister Naseerullah Babar: If a handfulof people are allowed to disrupt the tour, there would be no end to this. Intolerantelements in Pakistan can follow suit, thus making cricket impossible between the twocountries in times to come.
Player pressure: Indian playershave clammed up after coach Anshuman Gaekwad's reported reservations of some seniorsagainst such a pressure-packed series backfired when bcci secretary J.Y. Lele issued anultimatum: Those who don't want to play against Pakistan won't be picked for the WorldCup.
After the Pak tour, the two teams are joined by SriLanka for an Asian Test Championship followed by a tri-nation one-day series. Saysjournalist Rajan Bala: I get the feeling senior players for once don't want to play athome. They want some rest. The last thing they want to do is play Pakistan.
The pressure of playing the arch-rival can affectthe sternest. Sachin Tendulkar's Test match average (54.77) is a full 18.54 points higherthan his record against Pakistan. Wasim Akram's overall bowling average (22.86) is belowhis record against India (31.10). The fear of failure is daunting.
Home advantage: If India lose toPakistan at home, there will be hell to pay, having lost to Zimbabwe and New Zealand away.And if Pakistan lose, there will be hell to pay for them as well, having already lost toSouth Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe.Gaekwad says with the home advantage, the pressurewill be on the Pakistanis. But Ratnakar Shetty of the Mumbai Cricket Association says: Ifwe lose to Pakistan, it will be a setback to our World Cup hopes.
Privately, some Indian players admit touring andplaying with and against the Pakistanis will exact a heavy toll, with securitymen buzzingall over. A senior player told me the other day, 'Please keep us out of the hotel wherethe Pakistan team will be put up. I mean it'd be a jail', says journalist Ashish Shukla.
Playing under siege: Wasim Akram,eager to put match-fixing charges behind him, says the Pakistanis are used to playingunder pressure. Adds batsman Ijaz Ahmed: I receive a lot of fanmail from India and peopleask me why we do not play there... It's time we counter such threats.
Chimes in paceman Aaquib Javed: For me gettingSachin out is more important than any other batsman. I used to abuse him left and right.At Toronto, he came up to me at the non-striker's end and said, 'Itni gali kyon deta haire'. Since then I have stopped doing that. I only glare at him.
But not all their colleagues are gung-ho at theprospect of playing in front of security people, and looking all the time over theirshoulders for missiles, mischief, and who knows what else. Do you expect us to performwhen every place is out of bounds except the ground and hotel, asks one player. Also, Youdon't just play cricket. You visit friends, sightsee, do lots of other things. ThePakistan team might find that difficult, says Sunil Gavaskar.
Before the 16-member squad was announced, coachJaved Miandad said he would not be surprised if some key players backed out. The bcci hassent guarantees to the pcb. But if they're so sure about their guarantees, why don't theykeep a match in Mumbai? I'd like to play there.
Cricket relations between the two countries werenormal for nine years after the bloody Partition. But they were ruptured in 1956, as theCold War reshaped the geopolitics of the subcontinent. Between 1952 and 1990, 33 of the 44Tests were draws, but the one-day game, especially at Sharjah, where Pakistan establisheda lasting stronghold, and later Toronto and Dhaka, was reshaping relations between the twocountrieson the ground and off it, and turning Indo-Pak encounters into overheatedcauldrons of national pride. The best way to deal with Pakistan is to defeat themwhetherat war or in sport, says bjp minister Pramod Mahajan.
The digging up of the Delhi pitch is a symptom of adeeper malaise, says analyst Achin Vanaik: Represented by a frustrated, immature, Indianelite displaying belligerent nationalism for the last 10-15 years including the demolitionof the Babri masjid. Which is why, the fear that this series, against the backdrop of thethreats of vandals with two hardline governments in charge, may whip up communal passions.
We should spare a thought for the safety andwell-being of Indian Muslims, says Omar Kureishi. The lives of these Muslims will become anightmare as the series goes on. In all conscience, we simply cannot say this is none ofour business.
Path to peace: Author MikeMarqusee points out it's too much to expect cricket alone to heal wounds and make peacebetween two rivals: The path to peace is through politicsincluding the politics of nucleardisarmament. Playing cricket is an important part of normalising ties. But cricket initself is no guarantee of a more rational or generous approach on either side.
But the irony of the bjp playing second fiddle tothe Sena is stark. For a coalition which claims to represent the wishes of the majority,here is the classic spectacle of a minority of cricket-baiters holding a whole nationawhole subcontinentof cricket-lovers to ransom. Which is why, says Marqusee, India shouldgo the extra mile to ensure the tour is a success: To do otherwise would be to surrendercricket and democracy to the bigots' veto.
Krishna Prasad in Delhi and Azhar Abbas in Karachi with Aniruddha Bahal Manu Joseph Murali Krishnan , K.S. Narayanan, M.S. Shanker & B.r. Srikanth
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