- Thursday, December 26, 2024
Former cricketers and fans of various South Asian nations were seen engaging in mocking and confronting each other during the tournament.
By: Shubham Ghosh
CRICKET World Cups are unique as they manifest clashes of narrow-minded nationalism. Although the main rivalry in cricket is more about Asia versus the white nations or more precisely SENA — South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia — the idea of Asia is never a homogenous one.
Most number of contestants of the cricket World Cup are from Asia or South Asia to be specific, thanks to a common colonial legacy in the geographical region that had undergone partitions. And the national identities of these countries are so closely linked to cricket that the rivalry in the game often includes rivalries in other areas — be it political, geopolitical or just a clash of spirits.
The India-Pakistan rivalry in World Cups is something that doesn’t require an elaboration. Although India have taken a lifetime lead over their archrivals at the marquee tournament by going up 8-0 in as many encounters, yet the competitive spirit never dies down. For Pakistan, the successive failure of the national team (starting from their biggest leader Imran Khan) to beat India in a World Cup game has left the embarrassed fans to fend for themselves and they often take on their Indian counterparts on social media as a desperate attempt to cover up for the on-ground humiliation.
This year, for instance, Pakistan’s incredible batting collapse against India in front of more than 130,000 spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in Gujarat and the subsequent defeat made even the Green Shirts’ South African-born coach Mickey Arthur speak as if he also carries the Pakistani blood. He called the World Cup match an event that looked to be run more by India as a bilateral series rather than a multilateral one. He also said the lack of playing “Dil Dil Pakistan” (Pakistan in our heart) at the Indian venue as another reason for the debacle.
India’s excellent run in the tournament was also taunted by former Pakistan players who otherwise got little attention for bytes on television. They make the full use of the rare opportunities by saying things that leave even their more famous cricket compatriots red-faced. One such former cricketer is Hasan Raza who accused the Indian bowlers after their flawless exhibition that they were being given different balls to bowl that swung more. The remark faced a massive backlash from former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram who advised Raza not to make a fool of himself and the country.
Pakistan wicket-keeper-batter Mohammed Rizwan’s act of dedicating his match-winning hundred against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad to the Palestinians facing Israel’s assault in Gaza also triggered a controversy. The Indians, who have come out in support of Israel in large numbers alongside their prime minister Narendra Modi, slammed Rizwan for making a ‘political’ statement while playing cricket and thought the revenge was complete after India hammered Pakistan in the very next game in Ahmedabad.
Pakistan Zindabhaag!
Have a safe flight back home . pic.twitter.com/7QKbLTE5NY— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) November 10, 2023
Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag posted a tweet taunting Pakistan after they were knocked out of the tournament with their 93-run defeat against England. In his post, he said, “Pakistan Zindabhaag” (Pakistan Run Away Live!). The comment did not go down well with even many Indians who criticised the explosive former batter.
But Rizwan’s statement also received a similar response from Afghanistan’s opening batter Ibrahim Zadran who dedicated his match-winning knock against Pakistan in Chennai. “I want to dedicate this Man of the Match to those people who were sent from Pakistan to back home Afghanistan,” he said after scoring 87 that saw the Afghans stunning their eastern neighbour for the first time in a World Cup game. Afghanistan and Pakistan do not share a rosy relation and Islamabad’s recent decision to deport millions of Afghan refugees back to the Taliban-ruled country, supposedly over questions of internal security, has fuelled the acrimony more.
The mood was so sombre in the Pakistani camp after the 8-wicket defeat to Afghanistan that when former India cricketer Irfan Pathan danced on the ground with Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan after the match, a lot of voices exploded. Former Pakistan wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal said commentators should be neutral as Pathan is doing commentary for the World Cup.
Even in Afghanistan which is coping with hardships, political and those caused by natural disasters, people enjoyed the moment with some saying that it was nothing less than winning the World Cup itself. Fans of Pakistan, who were badly hurt by the loss and failed to make the semi-final as a result, got their opportunity to hit back when the Afghans failed to nail Australia in Mumbai despite picking seven wickets for only 91 runs after setting a target of 292.
Glenn Maxwell’s out-of-the-world knock of 201 not out decisively dented Afghanistan’s chances of making the knock-outs and kept Pakistan alive in the race. The Pakistani fans were elated and even mocked the meeting between India legend Sachin Tendulkar with the Afghan players on the eve of the Australia game.
Taking a dig at the ‘God’s’ (as Tendulkar is often called in the cricketing circles) chat with the Afghan players, one of the Pakistani fans wrote on X that there is only one God and that is “Allah”.
While India’s closeness with Afghanistan and both nations’ enmity with Pakistan sandwiched between them leads to a geopolitical reason of rivalry at the World Cup, there are also examples of bitter encounters between nations of South Asia that are located a big distance away from each other.
It is between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In their game in Delhi, Sri Lanka batter Angelo Mathews was given timed-out without facing a ball because of a defective helmet and it triggered a massive row that saw the players not even shaking hands after the game. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was accused of being unsporting even though he was within the ambit of law in making an appeal against Mathews who did not hide his frustration. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have grown a sort of tense rivalry over the years for reasons that are limited to elbowing on the 22 yards but eventually adds up to the long list of South Asian rivalry in the game.
While India and Bangladesh have a politically stable relationship, not all in India’s eastern neighbour harbour a trust and it reflects whenever the two nations meet each other on the cricket field. The Bangladeshi fans hoped that their players would teach an ‘arrogant’ India a lesson but they were left disappointed. After the match, the battle shifted to the social media platforms where both sides kept on attacking each other. A few Bangladeshi fans also alleged that they were humiliated in India when they went there to watch their country’s games from the stadium. Indians hit back saying despite helping Bangladesh in their liberation war, they did not give the bigger neighbour any respect.
The cricketers’ exchanges and the fans’ emotional outbursts on social media say much about the rivalry in the game that gets displayed in a high-profile tournament such as the World Cup. For many of the South Asian nations that are otherwise struggling economically and politically (barring India), a cricketing success has emerged as an alternative statement of national success and a failure there turns them seriously off.
