It is a pity the political cloud hanging over the Asia Cup has obscured the Indian team’s grand victory in the final against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Whatever be the rights and wrongs of the Indian cricket establishment cold-shouldering Pakistan, there is no denying the fact that India recording seven straight wins, including three against Pakistan, has brought both relief and joy to cricket fans across the country.
The drubbing at home against New Zealand and defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia last season had put coach Gautam Gambhir under a harsh spotlight, with his job on the line. But he has redeemed himself first with the Test team’s gallant performance in England this year and now with India’s ninth Asia Cup title and its second in the T20 format. Perhaps the most remarkable stat is this was the first time in 17 editions, stretching from 1981, that India and Pakistan have met in the final. The Asia Cup is the only multinational white-ball tournament on the world cricket calendar since all others have been abolished by the ICC. In fact, it is the second oldest after the ODI World Cup, which was launched in 1975. The event, therefore, has far more importance than a bilateral match-up, and the title retains its cache.
The burning question doing the rounds is why the BCCI sent the team at all to compete, knowing full well it was in the same group as Pakistan and the two warring nations had every chance of meeting three times over the fortnight, which is precisely what occurred? The stark reason centres around the government’s burning desire to clinch the hosting rights to the 2036 Olympics, for which it has lodged an official bid with the International Olympic Committee. With cricket returning to the Olympics at Los Angeles in 2028, a good 128 years after its sole appearance, India would be violating the Olympics charter by boycotting a multilateral tournament involving an Olympic sport. Giving the example of India boycotting the final of the Davis Cup tennis against South Africa in 1974 due to its apartheid policy is a case of comparing apples and oranges—crucially, tennis was not an Olympic sport back then. This is the same reason the government issued visas to the Pakistan hockey team for the recent Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar, and the World Para Athletics currently on in the capital. Pakistan skipping both events, ostensibly on security grounds, is illogical, and here too the IOC should take action.
Once world leaders in cricket, hockey and squash, today Pakistani sport is in the doldrums, save for reigning Olympic javelin champion, Arshad Nadeem. It is a far cry from their glory days of the 70s and 80s, even as India shows an upward growth in multiple sporting disciplines.
