On Being a Sport


Written by Chishty Mujahid • Cover Stories • August 2010

The year 2010 will see the twin countries of India and Pakistan observing their 63rd anniversary of their independence from the British and their creation as separate states.

The two twins/neighbors have spent more time in bickering, quarreling, pointing accusing fingers, even going to war several times in an attempt to annihilate the other. In 1971 India succeeded in further partitioning Pakistan by actively assisting in creating Bangladesh, rather than being a support and source of solace for each other's starving masses.

India has tried to, and indeed, dominated in all fields including economy, technology, the arts, media, commerce, industry, sports, hunger, poverty, the homeless, pavement dwellers et al. In most fields except the last four they have been "helped" and "abetted" by the utter mismanagement in Pakistan, the policies followed and implemented in the various fields by the successive governments plus the leaning of our well to do sections of society to emulate their Indian counterparts be it in culture, fashion, socializing even in the style of living. The open and free media policy adopted by Pakistan has opened the flood gates for everything Indian to come into our sitting rooms through their channels. Pakistani advertising companies are blatantly patronizing and showing "Indian models" and Indian commercials. Some Pakistanis take the Indians as their role models.

None of our channels or newspapers mention the pathetic plight of the poor and hungry of India. We only highlight "India is shining." A.B. Vajpayee lost the elections on that slogan; but our print/electronic media were silent spectators and ardent admirers of Bollywood and IPL (another disaster). We made more noise when our players were not offered IPL contracts than we did when India very slyly had us thrown out of co-hosting the world cup 2011. This we took "in good grace." Very gracious indeed.

In sports, India has dominated throughout; and we must give the devil his due here in that they have managed their affairs better and more systematically. This is nowhere as evident as in the field of cricket. It has been a policy by the successive Indian cricket boards to lay the trap for the fun loving, easily pleased, entertained and "naïve" Pakistani cricket stewards to fall into. India has planned it well; they were never in a hurry to show their real intent and it was a slow and "friendly" dominance which is now apparent for all to see. Hopefully it has opened the eyes of the powers that be in cricket in Pakistan.

The cricket print/electronic media are also dominated by Indians (most companies are Indian owned or managed; do I need to name them?) with Pakistanis either kept out or being included only if they toe the lines of Indian owners and managers or their western employees and supporters. India has a huge market and the cricket TV and marketing rights rake in a billion dollars making BCCI the richest board in the world. UAE media magnates and organizers also favor the Indians as they have to cater for the innumerable Indian expatriates in the sheikhdoms. They also patronize Pakistan to fill in their own stadium on which they have spent billions of Dirham rather than fill up and maintain the large number of cricket grounds in Pakistan some of which are in a state of ruin.

Pakistan television who did a magnificent job of coverage over the years in Pakistan and abroad and this was given due recognition by BBC and Doordarshan way back in the 1970s and 80s - Sharjah owes a lot to them; their producers, engineers, cameramen, technicians, did a heroic job almost on an honorary basis. But once money came into the equation, Sharjah also jettisoned them perhaps influenced by the Indian and (I hate using this expression) "gora" lobby and instead brought in Indians, South Africans, Australians, British, and others. Even events held in Pakistan like the tours by other countries to Pakistan and the world cups of 1987 and 1996 were covered by foreigners - you only have to see the recordings "to witness if I lie" as Macaulay put it. Pakistanis go along with the swing; they do not fight back, they do not struggle, they surrender. We just take things sitting down and India and the others take advantage of this. The ICC is now completely Indian dominated and this has been done by them meticulously, methodically, surreptitously and perfectly. What is the idea of having a retired Indian as advisor to the head of the ICC? is just one example. The ICC chief executive is also of Indian origin as is the president elect.

India has at the current moment succeeded in reducing Pakistan to the status of "pariahs" of world cricket. This had been their long term planning and we have crowned them with success. We have been slowly and unwittingly (we have no wits in any case) "eased out" of the world cricket events. PCB is reduced to "hosting" their events abroad - suits the PCB; no hassle of arranging matches ; no problems of administration and logistics; no worries of water, power (of which there is already a dearth in the country). PCB shifts its headquarters to UK, UAE or wherever they are given "hosting" rights; they sit their in safety and comfort; being well looked after. There is no accountability and all is hunky dory; to hell with the Pakistani cricket fans - Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Leeds, London, and Nottingham have become home ground. Well done India; you cashed in successfully on the sleeping and comfort loving Pakistan cricket authorities. First you took away the champions trophy from them, you tolerated them sharing the hosting of the 1987 and 1996 world cups with them; you perhaps did not even pay them their due share; and finally when, pardon the cliché, the iron was hot you struck and stripped them of co-hosting the 2011 world cup and your lackey the ICC (to be renamed soon as the Indian cricket council) acquiesced in this and the "strong and forthright" Pakistan cricket chiefs surrendered without even a whimper. In fact we defended the decision as the best possible as the ICC promised us a handful of silver. Should we sell our honor, dignity, position and rights for a few million dollars? Pakistan always swore by the support in cricket of India, Bangladesh (whom we sponsored) and Sri Lanka - but when it came to the crunch all three turned away leaving Pakistan looking lost and stranded.

We must remember that when in 1947 Pakistan and India became separate states, India "inherited" the majority of the pre-partition all India test team (all India were granted test status in 1932) while Pakistan's share of "Indian test players" were the aging Amir Elahi, and the up and coming all rounder Abdul Hafeez (later adding Kardar as his surname when he went up to oxford in 1946) and Fazal Mahmood who pulled out of the Indian team to tour Australia in 1947 as he wanted to migrate to Pakistan. However, there was talent in the persons of Nazar Mohammad, Anwar Husain, Khan Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmed , Maqsood Ahmed, M.E.Z.Ghazali and U.R. Chippa with some veterans like Dr. Jahangir Khan, the Ali brothers , Khwaja Saeed Ahmed, Mian Mohammad Saeed, Jeomal Naoomal, J.K. Irani to name a few. Talent which required coaching nurturing and developing was available at Lahore and Karachi.

India inherited turf pitches and stadia like the Feroze Shah Kotla at Delhi, the Brabourne stadium at Bombay, the Eden gardens in Calcutta and the Chepauk in Madras. India's school and domestic cricket was fully developed while Pakistan's was fledgling and almost non-existent. The only school cricket was for the Rubie Shield which unfortunately disappeared within a decade.

Pakistan's application for grant of full test status - to join England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and India - was turned down by ICC ( the imperial (later international - " read" Indian cricket council) and even at that stage no assistance was forthcoming from India. They could have sent a team to Pakistan or invited a Pakistani team to India so that the young nation's cricketers could prove their mettle. Help came from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) who exchanged visits, the West Indies who came to play when visiting India, a strong commonwealth team, and the MCC (England - at that time England on tour were called the MCC) led by Nigel Howard. Pakistan won the "unofficial test "at Karachi by 4 wickets on 2 December 1951 and on July 20 1952 ICC granted Pakistan full test status. Our first tour was to India, then in 1954 to England. By 1958 we had played against all other test playing countries except South Africa and won at least a test against all - a record.

Since 1952 we have toured India 8 times and they have visited us 7 times; total test played have been 59 with 38 drawn; 12 wins for Pakistan including 1 in the Asian test championships and 9 for India. If we exclude the one test as part of the Asian test championship, 58 tests have been played in 58 years between the two neighbors.

For those of you who may be statistically inclined the two countries have faced each other in 119 ODIs with Pakistan having a 60% win percentage - 69 won; 46 lost; 0 ties and 4 no results. The majority of these matches have taken place off shore - many in Sharjah, Australia and Sri Lanka; and for the world cups and Asia cups and the Champions Trophies.

The leaders keep shouting at the top of their voices "keep sports clean of politics" whereas sports have been a hotbed of politics particularly cricket. The attitude towards the game of the players and the fans of both countries is very contrasting. While we tend to go overboard in welcoming our friends from across the border; this gesture is not reciprocated. Has there ever been a threat by any section of the Pakistani public whether political, religious or otherwise that they will not let the Indians play here. We have been threatened with pitches dug up; and warnings to life and limb if we dared to play on Indian soil. It is a fact that Hanif's right palm was cut by a blade when an "ardent" fan shook his hand in admiration and left it in blood requiring stitches. The players are heckled and booed when fielding near the boundary line; some times they receive a barrage of projectiles. The sight of Pakistan playing to an empty Eden gardens Calcutta which had been evacuated because of crowd revolt who foresaw an Indian defeat; and Pakistan ultimately won it with ease.

The Indian fans find it difficult to digest defeat at the hands of Pakistan whether at home or on neutral venues. Even if an Indian team returns defeated from an international tournament they are faced with security threats and their homes come under stoning if not firing. Is this cricket? And they are more educated and democratic than we have been. Our attitude is that the shopkeepers of Anarkali refused to charge for the shopping done by Indian fans. Special arrangements are made in Pakistan for facilitating their immigration and customs and accommodation procedures. Compare these to the treatment meted out the Pakistanis crossing the border and the mind boggles. The Indian players are no different; they boycotted Sharjah for several years because of consistently losing against Pakistan.

Since 1952 - a mere 58 years only 15 visits have been exchanged and 58 tests played once a year. There have been yawning gaps in cricket relations for reasons other than cricket; but the Indian cricket authorities always drag in politics to avoid playing against Pakistan. They drag their feet on one pretext or the other. Without going into details suffice it to say that there was gap of 18 years in cricketing relations between India and Pakistan for 18 years - between 1961 and 1979 - for political reasons. Admitted there had been two wars between the countries but the relations were broken off 4 years before the 1965 war and did not restart until 8 years after the 1971 war. Indian authorities whenever they think a tour to or by Pakistan are not feasible will bring up security and Kashmir as the reason for not playing. Series between the two neighbors went on with some semblance of regularity until 1989-90 when the ebullient Krishnamachari Srikanth‘s played a drawn 1-1 rubber in Pakistan. After this many attempts for Pakistan to play in India had to be aborted because of threats by a Hindu politico-religious party called the Shiv Sena not to allow the Muslim team from Pakistan to play on Indian soil. When finally in 1999 after assurances of security and other protective measures Pakistan arrived for a 3 test series scheduled for Bombay, Madras and Delhi, the Shiv Sena supporters dug up the pitch at the Bombay stadium and ransacked the BCCI offices. The first test had to be shifted to Madras and the second to Delhi. Series was drawn 1-1.

India had at first resisted the Asian test championship but after much persuasion relented and the third test of this series at Calcutta was made into the inaugural match of the Asian test championship. 100,000 people turned up on each of the first four days. But the final day started with India 231 for 9 and staring down the barrel. The crowd could not take it and the rest is history.....Eden gardens cleared and Pakistan won by 46 runs.

In between there have been attempts (probably misplaced) at what is now referred to as "cricket diplomacy" when the then Pakistan president visited India to be at the 3rd test at Raipur in February 1987 maybe at the "invitation" of the then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. If anything positive came of it we are not sure. However Pakistan won the 5 test series 1-0.

Four years passed before cricket was played again between India and Pakistan and they played almost annually against each other until 2008 when Shoaib Malik led a Pakistan team to his now "susral." India under Kumble won the series 1-0. Now it is India's turn to come. Will they? Your guess is as good as mine. With Pakistan testing the nuclear bomb (India can have a nuclear bomb but how dare we have it) the so-called Bombay "problem," the Sri Lanka fiasco and the PCB's lackadaisical attitude and their habit of having an easy and trouble-free time - I doubt it.

The Duke of Wellington may have said "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." But that was because he was educated at Eton College. And Eton is not in Waterloo. Anyhow, if in these cruel times battles, wars or even dialogues were won on sports grounds by sportsmen/women, the Falklands problem could have been settled through a soccer match, the Soviet-Afghan problem through a game of bushkazi; the Iran -Iraq war through a wrestling bout and the Kashmir problem by a cricket match and so on. We should stop living in a fools' paradise.