Pak v Ind: Tale of broken promises

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  • Fans hoped the 2004 series would lead to regular India v Pakistan matches.

    It was in the late summer of 1938 that the then British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, came back from Berlin to wave a piece of paper proclaiming “peace in our times”. What followed in the next few years is a matter of history but similar parallels in a cricketing sense could also have been drawn when the then Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi returned from the International Cricket Council meeting in April 2014 pledging his support for the ‘Big Three’ in return for a memorandum of understanding which would signal the resumption of cricketing ties between arch-rivals, India and Pakistan.

    The deal was pretty simple. Pakistan would offer its unqualified support for proposals to revamp the ICC with the Big Three in the shape of Australia, England and India, virtually taking control of the organization.

    In return, Pakistan was promised the lucrative and mouth-watering prospect of earning millions of dollars in revenue as a result of playing against India. As Sethi remarked himself “The BCCI has signed MoUs with several countries, including PCB for six series, covering the FTP [Future Tours Programme] from 2015-2023.” To underline the importance of such a series to Pakistan and to the region as a whole, he further added “A series against India would bring huge revenue to the PCB besides bringing peace and prosperity to the region”, he remarked. 

    In fact one of the key points of Sethi’s elevation from a television journalist to the head of the PCB was his argument that his predecessor, Zaka Ashraf, had almost squandered Pakistan’s position of strength by refusing to support the Big Three’s initiative. Sethi and his administration as well as his successor, Shahryar Khan, thus set their stall based upon arranging this series, with Sethi going as far as saying that “Until and unless we play with India, we won’t make any money. Everyone is toeing India’s line because playing with India makes you money.”

    December 2015 was floated as the tentative date for the first of many series between the two neighbours. The opportunity to extract revenge or inflict another humiliation on old foes and the enticing prospect of showing up the old rivals in the Test arena would have pleased many a die-hard Pakistan or Indian fan. However, the fact remains that despite all the bravado that both sets of people show when it comes to national pride, nothing seems to melt the hearts than a good old contest of cricket. If anyone has any doubts, then they need to look at the way people in both countries came together in the now famous “Jeet lo Dil” series held in Pakistan in 2004.

    Pakistan in the meantime, also hosted its first international series on its home-soil since 2009, against Zimbabwe, which lead to some unfounded hopes of hosting the India team in Pakistan. There was spring in the air and it appeared that peace was finally breaking out. However, any student of the history of Indo-Pakistan relations would have realized that regardless of the niceties and platitudes on display, it would take a gargantuan effort and a leap of faith for politicians to allow the countries to enjoy a simple game of cricket together. 

    And so it came to pass, a pretext was created on the Indian side and a flurry of statements were exchanged between politicians of both sides and the flames of nationalistic pride stoked in a shameless manner to ensure that cricket was the last thing on Indian and Pakistani minds. In no time television anchors, various grade film stars, ex cricketers and ordinary mortals all jumped in the melee with the result that national pride became the only talking point. Perceived injustices and claims of moral supremacy became the order of the day with cricket taking a back seat to rhetoric that really should have belonged to some singing and dancing Bollywood or Lollywood movie.

    Najam Sethi has failed to broker an India v Pakistan Test series.

    The series, if it had taken place would have been a great victory for the current PCB regime and would have also provided a huge financial boost for the cash starved organization which is tasked with running the game of cricket in Pakistan. Apart from the financial angle, the political careers and legacies of some of the key actors in this drama were up for grabs as well. The stakes were never higher as proved by the constant barrage of hopeful statements coming out from the Pakistani side which were met with almost stunned silence from their BCCI counterparts.

    Was Pakistan’s stance a folly? Was Najam Sethi, blinded by his own political ambition unable to grasp the basics of any India-Pakistan contact of this sort which is based mostly on posturing rather than actual facts? Did this send the wrong message of desperation to the BCCI and ultimately to its masters in New Delhi?

    As it stands today, the drama seems to be in its last few acts with the advent of the Pakistan Super League now providing possible monetary relief for Pakistan; an escape route if you will which the current PCB administration would like to accept with relief. However, the fact remains that the Indo-Pakistan series have always been kept hostage to the whims of the politicians who are able to the fan the flames of hate at the drop of a hat. Until cricket in the region is able to extricate itself from hands of such forces, the fans of cricket will suffer forever. The next “Jeet lo Dil” series will remain a pipedream for the foreseeable future.

    Whilst statements now from the PCB suggest they can survive without playing cricket against India, the fact remains that the initial euphoria and premature statements regarding a series between Pakistan and India were misguided and misplaced.

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