Every sporting contest between India and Pakistan gains prominence—and the hype multiplies on the cricket field. When the Asia Cup started about three weeks ago, Suryakumar Yadav and Co were ranked No 1 in T20 internationals, while Pakistan were not even in the top five. Yet, all eyes were on the fixtures between the arch-rivals. The build-up was laced with political overtures.
The first of the three matches between the two started without handshakes and ended with the India captain dedicating the win to the Pahalgam terror victims and the Indian armed forces. Similar sub-plots played out while India won the three matches, including the final.
However, as the gestures on field got uglier, Asian Cricket Council president and Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi added fuel to fire with a social media post. The two cricket boards complained against each other at the global governing body, the International Cricket Council.
So, even as India won their ninth Asia Cup crown, after three weeks of handshake-gate, verbal volleys and official complaints, the post-tournament ceremony felt farcical. There was a sense of inevitability to it.
By the time the final arrived, the animosity between the two teams had grown so much that it was on open display, with players mocking their rivals during the clash. Things reached the tipping point when the post-match presentation got delayed by one and a half hours, and India refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi.
It’s not as if the Asia Cup is witnessing geopolitical hostility for the first time—India withdrew from the second edition in 1986 due to a strained relationship with hosts Sri Lanka and Pakistan skipped the event in India in 1990- 91. However, tensions reached a new high in this edition as the theatrics descended to a new low.
Things are expected to escalate further, with the Indian cricket board deciding to launch a serious protest against Naqvi at the ICC conference in November. With more multi-national cricketing contests to come, including the ICC Women’s World Cup starting in India on Tuesday, it will be prudent to find a lasting solution to keep the intense animosity between the two countries off the field. For that, the two nations first have to walk the path to reconciliation.