Break out the Tooheys and orange slices. With the first ball today of the Australia-India test series in Perth at the Gabba, Australia’s summer of cricket has officially started. And with it, another stride forward in the ongoing march of stronger relations.
Cricket and summer go together like sausages and bread, or rice and dal. Summer, cricket and the Australian and Indian teams set the stage for some pretty heated on-pitch competition, and what will undoubtedly be colourful displays by supporters.
According to Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, 90,000 seats are expected to be filled on day one of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
The appeal of hosting the Indian cricket team in Australia is not lost on Cricket Australia. Having suffered losses in recent years because of Covid, CA officials are hoping to recoup that, at least in part, this summer, with the Indian team forming the basis of the attraction.
Cricket is soft power at the intensity of the last ball in a one-day final.
India has always been an exciting team on the Australian fixtures. But now, there’s some real top-level recognition of the might and size of the Indian diaspora in Australia, and from around the world, economically and culturally.
For example, never in my life would I have expected to see the vision that arrived a couple of weeks ago. Black is white, night is day, and the Herald Sun, that bastion of working-class Melbournian outer suburban rage, had a front page in both English and Hindi, and a lift out in Hindi and Punjabi, to launch summer cricket season. It was replicated in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, too. It quickly circulated on probably every single one of my WhatsApp groups. Everyone is stunned but elated. (Including those committed to linguistic diversity.) The Nine group newspapers are also running selected cricket coverage in Hindi.
There are other signs that the optics of cricket are now being shifted on their axis even more. Right now, there is a lot of talk about how the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is going to be the new Ashes: the new frontier in world-class, era-defining sporting rivalries. In fact, there’s so much talk it feels a bit concocted. CA’s Nick Hockley has been talking about the commercial value of the series for some months. Australian bowler Nathan Lyon said it. Australia’s former captain turned commentator Ricky Ponting also said it.
For the greatest rivalry to be taken out of the Anglosphere is a red-letter moment. It feels almost anti-colonial, or decolonial. But is it true? I suppose that depends on who wins, and how many tickets are sold, and how much merch is bought.
Despite the scandals over the years, the at times tense relationships between players and fans, cricket is soft power at the intensity of the last ball in a one-day final. It is soft power beefed up, like Warnie before the diuretic.
It’s hard to depart from cricket as the long-running cornerstone of Australia’s diplomatic efforts. It’s not always something that has been loudly cheered from within the diplomatic corps. Cricket diplomacy is considered old-fashioned and retrograde, a relic from a time when there just wasn’t much else to use to connect the two countries. Every time a politician, diplomat or businessman (and let’s face it, they are almost always men) mentions cricket in an earnest speech about bilateral relations, a room full of eyes roll back in their heads.
The problem is, it works, almost too well.
There actually is a lot more going on than cricket, although you might never know it.
Just a few days ago, the Australian and Indian Prime Ministers met on the sidelines of the G20, holding the second Australia-India Annual Summit (the first was in May 2023). They welcomed the launch of the Renewable Energy Partnership, which will see the two countries work together on various renewable energy ventures. They also issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to the relationship. It all underscores the fact that the bilateral relationship is important, fruitful – and growing.
Also this month, Australia announced a significant boost to a military exchange involving ADF and Indian troops. The 10th round of negotiations for the long-awaited expanded free trade agreement – the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement – were held in Sydney in August, and the next round is expected in December in New Delhi.
That these big deal progressions in the relationship are being subsumed by cricket is a sign that sporting diplomacy has cut-through, although probably isn’t being exploited to its full potential by the current government.
But there’s always hope. The two-day match in Canberra at the end of the month between the Indian men’s team and the Prime Minister’s XI is on at Manuka Oval, a few big hits distance from Parliament House and DFAT HQ. Anthony Albanese will most likely be there. That’s two days of pondering how the government can play catch-up when it comes to making the most of cricket links in a way that’s new and exciting and embraces the diaspora as a true, equal partner in the relationship.
