The two times champions India starts its 2023 cricket world cup journey by taking on the five times winner Aussies at hot and humid MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai today on October 8. Finally there is the time when India is hosting the most prestigious tournaments of Cricket. Although India had hosted world cup along with the other Asian Countries like Pakistan in 1987, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1996 and Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011. However, this is the very first time in the history of world cups that India is hosting it all by itself.

India leads the globe with the maximum number of cricket fans followed by South Africa and Australia. Cricket is nothing less than a religion in India. With IPL becoming an enormous success the spread of this religion is getting deeper and wider.

Religion in India is not limited to just god, it has to do a lot more with politics and business; cricket is no different and is also not limited to just sports, it has to do a lot more with politics and business. BCCI, world’s richest cricket board now influenced by the nationalist party in India has missed no opportunity to isolate its unfriendly neighbor.

Recently concluded Asia Cup 2023 is a good example.

The cup was jointly hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, however BCCI expressed that it would not go to play in a country promoting terrorism. In return Pakistan threatened to walk out of World Cup that India is hosting now. India very conveniently and diplomatically managed to not go to Pakistan and still stick to its narrative. India played all its game in Sri Lanka. As a matter of fact, only three games happened in Pakistan (Pakistan vs Nepal, Bangladesh vs Afghanistan and Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka) and rest everything was played in Sri Lanka.

The covert geopolitical tussles brilliantly scratched to the surface this Asia Cup.

Not to forget India’s intentions to present itself as an all weather ally to Sri Lanka and counter China’s meddling with Sri Lankan affairs. Hosting a major tournament has its benefits. It allows the host country to develop a reputation in the world along with soft power. So, when India chose Sri Lanka over Pakistan, the message is delivered to the rest of the world. Sri Lanka gets the business share that could have been slipped to Pakistan. A win win for India-Sri Lanka relations.

Having said all that, India is quite clever in its approach towards Pakistan. The efforts are to isolate Pakistan and hit them economically, politically and diplomatically. However, when it comes to hosting Pakistan Cricket team, it is welcomed and supported more than any other team. Pakistan Cricket team arrived in India on Sep 27, and received a warm welcome which a lot of people did not expect.

Moreover, an irony to some extent, India plays Pakistan on October the 14th at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmadabad. The only stadium that can host more than a hundred thousand, approx. 132,000 cricket fans. The tickets for the game are made available from October 8, 12 PM IST. I am quite certain its going to be full house. It does not matter who wins, business in India will definitely win. As a matter of fact, India vs Pak even had a reserve day in Asia Cup; no other group stage match had a reserve day.

India vs Pakistan Head to Head in World Cups:

It is not the first time bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan has ceased to exist. Cricket completely ceases to exist between the two nations from 1961 and resumed in 1978 by the efforts of Morarji Desai’s government. Morarji Desai’s efforts had made him popular in Pakistan and s a result he was conferred Pakistan’s highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan in 1990.

However, the underlying motivations for both the countries have been very different. While India always boycotts cricket citing terrorism as a reason. Pakistan always sees it on religious lines. The test series that Pakistan won in 1978 as a result of biased umpiring, the then Pakistani cricket captain Mohammad called the win “the victory of Muslims all over the world over the Hindus.”

Thanks for reading! If you liked the article please follow my blog and also have a look at the following: