​Distant neighbours: on cricket and India and Pakistan  

If sport is war minus the shooting, cricket involving India and Pakistan takes it to another level. And finally all those whispers in the corridors of power and cricketing maidans over the last few months were found to be true when on Saturday it came to light that India has officially informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) about its inability to travel to Pakistan to participate in the Champions Trophy. The tournament, scheduled next year from February 19 to March 9, with Pakistan as the lone host, was always grappling with the ‘India-question’, considering the political and diplomatic unease between the sparring neighbours on either side of the Radcliffe Line. It is a fact that since the 2008 Asia Cup in Karachi, India has not toured Pakistan. Bilateral series involving the two have ground to a halt and the sporting face-off is restricted to ICC events at a neutral venue or in India. Pakistan had used its participation in the ICC World Cup match in Ahmedabad in 2023 to get India to reciprocate the gesture, but the view from Delhi was different. Pakistani officials were also open to the idea of India playing only in Lahore while staying in India.

However, just as in the 2023 Asia Cup, in which India played all its games in Sri Lanka, including the final, while avoiding a trip to primary host Pakistan, this time around the request is for a similar arrangement. India may prefer its Champions Trophy games and the final, if it lasts the distance, to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah is the ICC chairman-elect while being the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Secretary for now, may have added a political twist. But even under the earlier Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government till 2014, Pakistan remained a ‘no-go-area’ after the terror strikes in Mumbai. Among former India cricketers too, the overwhelming view is that a trip past the Wagah border should be avoided. The Pakistan Cricket Board is miffed, but a tournament split between Pakistan and the UAE remains a possibility. The security angle in Pakistan has stirred debate since the 2009 shooting incident against the Sri Lankan team bus at Lahore. But since then much water has flowed down the Indus and other nations have resumed tours to Pakistan. In all this subcontinental frost, it is sad that star players, including Virat Kohli, have not played a single Test against Pakistan, a statistic that seems set to remain that way.