After all the back and forth about will-there-won’t-there be an India-Pakistan cricket series and all the discussion about where, if at all the series will be held, it seems to be a no-go situation. The Pakistan Cricket Board doesn’t want to send their team to India; the BCCI says it is too dangerous for the Indian cricket team to go to Pakistan, so the end result is that the world is deprived of some of the most riveting sporting contests in the world! We miss India Pak cricket for so many reasons –
Cricket’s keenest rivalry
The Ashes are not cricket’s keenest contests. An Indo-Pak cricket fixture is. It is the passionate sub-continental skirmishes that trump any bland clash between the Aussies and the English. All those passions running high at any India Pakistan match make for a very engrossing contest.
Crazy Fans
Cricket is a religion in India and nothing stirs up that frenzy among cricket fans the way an India Pakistan match does. A close match can literally give you a fever, a win that transports you to the heights of euphoria and a defeat can depress you for days!
Crazy players
When audience expectations are so high and the pressure so intense, the players can get just as obsessive and crazy. Some of the most interesting episodes of world cricket have been scripted during Indo-Pak ties.
No other team really understands the cuss words
When Indians swear on the field, the Pakistanis know exactly what is being said and vice versa. They speak the same language as us; they look similar to us and they have the same gaalis (abuses)! The Bangladesh team probably does as well, but an Indo-Bangladesh fixture doesn’t have anywhere near the same cache.
We miss them
The audiences in Pakistan miss the energy, the atmosphere and the sheer excitement of an Indo-Pak tie. The huge banner in that picture says it all. And what can we say except that we reciprocate that sentiment.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
