The Hindu : India-Pakistan cricket: its real significance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

India-Pakistan cricket: its real significance

By Nirmal Shekar

Forty years ago today, the world of sport changed forever. Few sports fans, perhaps not even the die-hard variety with a considerable grasp of sporting history, may readily recall the events of February 25, 1964; fewer still may have realised the enormous significance of what happened on that day.

But, then, in ways that we can comprehend easily and others that might elude our understanding, modern sport will forever be divided into two eras — before Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) beat Sonny Liston and after Muhammad Ali shocked the seemingly invincible ex-con in Florida.

From that unforgettable night, the world of sport was never the same again. The world's most readily recognisable athlete of the 20th century made sure of that. Ali's victory over Liston not only changed the face of boxing in the United States and elsewhere but its significance went way beyond the strictly defined boundaries of sport as a remarkable, granite-willed black man stood up against the awesome might of the United States establishment in the high noon of the civil rights movement.

All the achievements of the iconic black sportsmen of the post-Ali generations — everything that men and women like Michael Jordan and Williams sisters have accomplished — pale in comparison with the great Muhammad Ali saga.

We live in an age of instant-gratification; curiously, this also means that we have to — or at least we are forced to do so by the television commentators — celebrate the greats of our time as the greatest of all time. Today's masterly century becomes the finest innings played; today's incredible goal is turned into the finest strike ever made by a footballer in history.

Alfredo di Stefano? Who was that? We have David Beckham. Period. Gary Sobers? Was that a cricketer or a violinist? We have Sachin Tendulkar. Period. Fair enough. You can only celebrate what you have seen.

But history, whether sporting history or any other history, has a way of putting everything in its place. This is precisely why we will know the real significance of what a Tendulkar or a Beckham or a Brian Lara or a Roger Federer has achieved only long years from now.

In fact, great sporting achievements, like all other great achievements in life, gain greater and greater significance with the passing of time. Little did sportswriters — or even erudite historians — know on February 25, 1964 that the world of sport has changed forever. One man knew it — Muhammad Ali — and that was because he was the inspired agent of change himself.

Today, people talk of the significance of the India-Pakistan cricket series that will be played in our neighbouring land in a few weeks' time as an event of extraordinary significance. This may well be true. But, it is only in hindsight that we can come to grips with the real meaning of something that has taken place.

And, at this point, it may be wise not to read too much into what is going to take place in Lahore and Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan in March and April. For too long, fans on both sides of the border have put an enormous burden on the players of both countries, turning sporting contests into what they shouldn't be.

In the event, it is time now to ease our feet off the pedal, emotionally. While it is certainly hugely significant — in a purely sporting context — that India will be playing Tests in Pakistan for the first time since Parthiv Patel graduated from play-school, this should not be seen as yet another opportunity to reorient ourselves with our base passions and let those monsters get the better of us.

What the peerless Ali achieved 40 years ago helped shape political events, made the world a better place for black athletes and went a long way in creating a level playing field for the oppressed classes both in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

The resumption of India-Pakistan cricket, for all that has been said about its significance, may hardly compare with the Ali phenomenon, no matter how `important' cricket is deemed to be in the two countries.

For all the iconic significance of cricket either side of the Line of Control, it may be unwise to see its practitioners as pawns in the hands of politicians in both countries who are busy chalking out a road-map to peace.

Actually, the ones who have hyped up this series out of proportion are the people with an eye on the fast buck, the ones who stand to gain financially from the historic series. And it is this hype that all sane-thinking lovers of the great game should ignore.

India-Pakistan cricket may make for a thrillingly watchable spectacle with hope reaching intoxicating levels among the fans in both countries. But this, for once, is no time to underline our differences and work ourselves into a thigh-slapping jingoistic frenzy.

This writer is as fiercely patriotic as his neighbour; as proud of his Indian heritage as anybody born in this great land of ours. But narrow interpretations of national `cause' — jingoism in essence — have no place in sport. Our sense of self-esteem and national pride should not be hooked to India's cricketing fortunes against Pakistan.

Winning and losing does matter in sport; and it matters even more in India-Pakistan sport for reasons that do not need to be elaborated. Yet, the point is, at a time when conditions on the ground have changed dramatically, fans in both countries should see this as an opportunity to bury the past and celebrate a civilised new beginning in the context of our reactions to victory and defeat.

If fans can do this, there will be winners all round — cricket, cricketers of both India and Pakistan, and the fans themselves. For, this will help ease the pressure off the players' shoulders and they might get to play with a new sense of freedom, which will turn the contests into gripping spectacles.

If the fans cannot do this, there will be only one set of losers — the fans themselves. Life will go on as always for the wealthy cricketers and politicians will play down events so they can get on with their business. The loser will be the average fan who will probably have to wait another decade and a half to witness another series should anything go wrong this time.

Two years before India last played in Pakistan, Boris Becker, a two-time defending champion, lost in the second round of the Wimbledon championship to an Australian journeyman called Peter Doohan. Over a hundred of us waited for him in the interview room, which, on that evening, resembled a funeral parlour.

Becker, all of 19 then and unschooled since age 13, came in, smiled a handsome smile and said: "Nobody died out there. I just lost a tennis match."

Sometime in March, either India or Pakistan might lose a cricket match and later on, one of them might lose the series too. Nobody will die. Hopefully.

The bottom line is, sport is trivial pursuit. We invest more in it than it deserves, we read more in its results than there are. India-Pakistan cricket, for all that has been said, is, in truth, significantly insignificant in the larger context. Let's see it for what it is and enjoy the contests.

Sport is seldom as significant as the great Muhammad Ali made sure it would be forty years ago today. Neither an Indian victory nor a Pakistani success will trigger the sort of revolution Ali's triumph this day forty years ago did.

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