The corrosive Impact of Politics on India-Pakistan Test Cricket

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera

The recent decision by the Asian Cricket Council to allocate a reserve day for the India-Pakistan match in Colombo was no doubt taken to placate the commercial interests of those who would have paid for advertising slots during the live telecast of the game. Given the massive interest that matches between these two countries generate, particularly among the supporters of both teams, those who advertise pay the top dollar in anticipation of the enormous viewership.

Unfortunately, most supporters treat the matches between the two countries not merely as a sporting event where one team wins and the other loses, at least in the white ball formats. There have been instances in the past where the captain and the senior players of the losing team have had their houses attacked by enraged supporters. Many are abused on social media if a poor performance leads to a loss. On the other hand, a good performance that results in a victory will elevate the player and the team to national heroes.

Thankfully, the players of both teams, going back many decades, have treated the matches between the two countries strictly as a sporting event sans the jingoism. There has been great mutual respect among the players from both nations for each other’s cricketing ability. In the 1970s and 1980s, many from both sides played county cricket in England.

Even now, despite the tense political situation, It is great to see visuals and read interviews of players of both teams socializing and complimenting the opposition’s cricketing abilities. The visuals of Virat Kohli talking and laughing with Pakistani players and the Pakistani fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi presenting the Indian fast bowler Jaspith Bumrah a gift to celebrate the birth of a child just about sums up the folly of these two great cricketing teams not having toured each other’s countries for nearly 15 years.

The last occasion that Pakistan toured India was in 2007/08 to play a three test match series, whilst India last toured Pakistan in 2005/06 for a three test match series. Since the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai that killed 164 people, the Indian government has been adamant that no Indian team will be allowed to visit Pakistan as they attribute the attack to a terrorist group based in Pakistan.

The terror attack in 2009 on the bus carrying the Sri Lankan team to a match in Lahore has also no doubt contributed to why the Indian government might be averse to allowing the Indian national team to tour Pakistan. In 2019, the Sri Lankan team toured Pakistan to mark the resumption of test cricket in Pakistan. Since then, nearly all cricketing nations other than India have toured Pakistan. However, it appears that the prospect of India touring Pakistan in short to medium term is non-existent as India exercises considerable influence in both cricketing and political terms and the nationalistic fervour generated by the Modi government.

Despite two major and two minor wars being fought since 1947, the two countries have played 59 test matches, with Pakistan winning 12 and India 9. In spite of the war between the two nations in 1971, when the Indian forces captured East Pakistan and established an independent state of Bangladesh, cricketing ties were reestablished in 1978/79 when India toured Pakistan and played three test matches. After that, Pakistan reciprocated by touring India in 1979/80 for a three-test series. All six games were riveting as both the teams had exceptionally gifted players.

It was in 1971 that India established their credentials as a powerful test-playing team, defeating both the West Indies and England in their respective backyards. Whilst the West Indies were a team in transition, the English team were the unofficial test champions. The cricketer who stood out was Sunil Gavaskar, a diminutive batsman who scored four test centuries in his debut series in the West Indies. He was to carry the fortunes of the Indian team for two decades as he pitted his great skill against some of the most ferocious fast bowlers that the world had seen.

In addition to scoring 10,122 test runs and 34 test centuries and carrying the Indian batting on his shoulders, he also proved to the world that Asian batters could fearlessly face fast bowlers. He is an iconic player whose achievements were to galvanize thousands of other Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis. The records and accomplishments of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli might be greater, but for me, Sunil Gavaskar is the Christopher Columbus of Asian cricket.

I also believe that the cricketing ability and the exploits of Imran Khan of Pakistan are equally important to Asian and World cricket as those of Sunil Gavaskar. Whilst Imran was an accomplished all-rounder, his fast bowling was comparable to the four West Indian fast bowlers and that of Lillee and Thompson. He proved to the cricketing world that Asians could also bowl at high speed. He also crafted a group of talented but undisciplined players into a great team as a captain. Imran was followed by Wasim Akram and Waqar Younus, both exceptional fast bowlers who invented the art of reverse swing.

Some other batting greats from India who left a mark on world cricket were Gundappa Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammed Azharudeen, Mohinder Amarnath and Kapil Dev, who was a genuine all-rounder. Since the 1990s, India has produced exceptional players like Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Shewag, Dhoni, Kumble, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan, Pujara, Ashwin, Jadeja and Rahane.

No doubt, post the 1984 World Cup victory over the West Indies, cricket in India has taken off both in terms of producing an endless supply of talented players and vast amounts of money that attracts youngsters to the game and gives the Board of Control for Cricket India the most amount of influence in the world stage. Unfortunately, at times, they seem to be using that advantage to bully the other members. Furthermore, the captaincy of Kohli, particularly in test cricket and Dhoni in white ball cricket, has made India a force to be reckoned in all the formats.

In contrast, Pakistan’s batting lineup in the 1970s comprising Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, brothers Sadiq and Mushtaq Mohammed, Javed Miandad, Asif Iqbal, and Imran Khan were, in my view, the best. Nearly all of them honed their skills playing county cricket in England. They were elegant and masterful. Pakistan has, in the recent past, been blessed with exceptional batsmen like Inzamam Ul Haq, Saeed Anwar, Saleem Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Azhar Ali and Babar Azam. In addition, Pakistan has produced some outstanding fast bowlers, Imran, Sarfraz Nawaz, Wasim, Waqar and Sohaib Akther. They have also had some excellent spin bowlers in, Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Danish Kaneria and Yasir Shah.

However, it would be correct to say that India has, at least in the last 15 years, been superior. They have been victorious in the last four series against Australia, including two series victories in Australia, which is no mean feat. The IPL is producing young cricketers who seem no longer to be intimidated when playing against Australians and Englishmen. On the other hand, Pakistan cricket’s progress has undoubtedly been impacted by having to play international cricket for nearly a decade at overseas venues after the 2009 attack on the bus carrying the Sri Lanka team.

As a neutral, I hope it will not be too long before India visits Pakistan for a test series and vice versa. No Sri Lankan can forget the exceptional efforts of the Indian and Pakistan players, along with the respective boards, for visiting Sri Lanka in 1996, soon after the Central Bank bomb, to play an exhibition match and prove that Colombo was safe enough to host some of the world cup games. That extraordinary act began our journey to win the 1996 World Cup, which we fittingly did in front of a passionate crowd in Lahore rooting for us.

It has long been the view of many that politics and sports should not mix. It is often said that sports diplomacy transcends cultural differences and brings people together. To their credit, cricketers from India and Pakistan have, for several decades, by their behaviour, epitomized this and enjoyed camaraderie and friendship. It just now needs the politicians from both sides of the divide to act like statesmen and ensure that politics does not transgress to sports and make way for the resumption of the great cricketing spectacle of India and Pakistan batting out a test match in both Mumbai and Lahore.