While the Asia Cup was no less than pulsating with a nail-biting final, what captured the headlines apart from sports is the marked absence of on-the-field sporting bon homie between the players of Pakistan and India.
Breaking tradition, there was no handshake at the end of a game, as has been the case with all the matches played between the two nations this tournament. This underlined the fact that state level tensions between the two nations have seeped into sport.
This event, although not directly related to the sport itself, captured attention, triggering a debate in which many have opined that sport and politics should be kept apart.
Sport is not just sport
Well, the two disciplines may appear to be from two diametrically opposed worlds, but, honestly, can they be kept apart?
Sport had always been used, sometimes overtly, at other times, covertly, to advance “other” motives.
India and Pakistan have always been the top opponents in cricket, with the history of sporting rivalry going back decades. In the 80s, while cricketers of both nations took to the fields with almost the whole of South Asia coming to a standstill, their hockey teams also fitted into the intensely competitive template.
It was a bit like Brazil and Argentina, but with a South Asian twist.
In most of their sporting meets, topped generously with jingoistic nationalist fervour, issues of contention in other areas inevitably became an invisible motivating force.
Even though the two nations had fought several wars and were engaged in many small-scale skirmishes, the off the field camaraderie was always there.
Going back to 1998 and the Mini World Cup held in Bangladesh, I recall a wonderfully heart-warming scene. At that time, players of both the nations were residing at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel and were often seen at the hotel gym.
One day, when neither side had a match, some of the Pakistani players were sweating it out while sharing a laugh with a stunningly attractive woman, on a stationary bike. She appeared familiar, but at that moment, I just couldn’t place her.
While the players and the lady were talking animatedly, the Indian player, and possibly captain at that time, Md Azharduddin, walked in and joined. It was a scene of relaxed conviviality, a total contrast to the on-field competition. The name of the lady came to me like a bolt -- Sangeeta Bijlani, the actress and wife of the Indian skipper.
Cricket diplomacy had played a crucial role in reducing tensions between these two countries in 1987 when the then Pakistani president Zia ul Huq went to India, ostensibly to watch a match.
Interestingly, the country which used cricket as a tool to advance a major diplomatic cause is still a minor player in the world of cricket.
China reportedly spent $132 million to build cricket infrastructure in the West Indies. Soon after, Grenada and Dominica un-recognized Taiwan as an independent country. Both Antigua and Jamaica reportedly received grants worth $55m and $30m respectively to build stadiums ahead of the 2007 cricket World Cup.
When cricket sours relations
A game can improve relations and then, it can also break it.
England’s 1932-33 Ashes tour of Australia gave birth to the Bodyline controversy in which England’s “straight at the body” bowling provoked outrage, leading the Aussie press to term English tactics unsportsmanlike.
The matter went beyond the game of course, resulting in a diplomatic kerfuffle in which tensions rose.
Although Australia withdrew the comment, relations became strained, affecting trade, boycotting of goods, and souring people to people contact.
Brits residing down under faced the heat while Aussies in England faced English wrath.Reportedly, this relation, tainted by the Bodyline controversy, only improved during WW2.
For the English captain, Douglas Jardine, winning the Ashes was the ultimate sporting glory and any method used was acceptable. At least, when he walked into the MCC saying: Gentlemen, the Ashes! There was applause all around.
Someone did say: Winning is not everything, it’s the only thing!
Restraint celebration eased out of cricket
Let’s be blunt, in top level competition there is no civility, it’s war with both sides taking the “take no prisoners” approach.
Arguably, before India and Pakistan became cricketing forces, the vicious competition was limited to England and Australia.
Today, with T20 cricket defining a bling-layered multi-million dollar spectacle, cricket is no longer the placid sport on a weekend enjoyed with a glass of lager/ale/cola punctuated with a snooze.
It’s high octane, filled with fervour and fuelled by nationalism.
During the just concluded Asia Cup, the expressions of bowlers after getting a wicket were akin to victorious warriors on a battlefield.
To be honest, the reactions could hardly be called normal and the bowlers looked like they were out to get the biggest nemesis of their lives.
Well, that’s T20 cricket for you: Fanatical, frenzied, and ferocious.
But then, at the end of it all, we all come back to being normal human beings and that is where small gestures of friendship and respect retain the civility of the sport.
In 1971, during the World Table Tennis Championship in Japan, an American player accidentally got into the Chinese team bus.
He was given a gift by the Chinese captain and, in return, the American gave him his T-shirt with a peace logo.
A small incident, but one picked up by the press, leading to the famous Ping Pong diplomacy tour of China by an American team, easing rapprochement between two countries. US President Nixon went on to tour China in 1972, marking a new chapter in US-China relations.
The Asia Cup is over, although cricket, the multi-billion dollar sporting enterprise, featuring a global online betting operation, will roll on.
With so much money flying, intrigue and manoeuvers often making headlines, that thing called civility is often brushed aside.
Perhaps it’s the duty of a nation to remind her players that, victory or a loss, the conduct has to be courteous.
One polite gesture can be the stepping stone for a dialogue aimed at resolving sore points.
Towheed Feroze is a former journalist.
