3 reasons why BCCI's special ceremony for India-Pakistan clash is wrong
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)'s decision to shower cash and throw an exclusive party for the India-Pakistan clash in the 2023 World Cup on Saturday, October 15 is part confusing, part funny, and a bit ironic.
It looks like a slap on the face of those politicians who often fight for fewer India-Pakistan cricket matches. They feel that it's an embarrassment for the Indian army and martyrs that it chooses to play sport with border rival Pakistan.
Those politicians, who also include some former cricketers, come in front of cameras and explain why bilateral cricket with Pakistan is impossible.
They add that cricket with Pakistan in multi-nation tournaments is forced, that India's hands are tied and it has no option but to play against Pakistan in the World Cup and the Asia Cup. They say it's not for money.
The BCCI is led by some of those politicians. It has an overall solid relationship with politics too. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) members reportedly had access to tickets for some matches of the World Cup. BCCI chiefs often go on to become ministers and vice versa and usually have some connection to the country's politics.
This exclusive party will include performances from Arijit Singh was supposed to happen before the World Cup. Movie stars Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth are likely to be in attendance too.
The party was supposed to happen before the World Cup. When it didn't, BCCI officials came to newspapers and said that no party was ever planned because the game starts in the afternoon. The India-Pakistan match also starts at 2:00 pm IST.
We can't make sense of it. No stakeholder would come forward to explain either. This is for the confusing, funny, and ironic parts. More than all of that, this party and celebration feels wrong.
Below, in three points, we explain why:
#3 It's unfair/disrespectful to other teams
Such ceremonies are usually reserved for before the first matches of big tournaments, for example, the Olympics. It happened for all three previous World Cups as well and involved some representation from all teams.
These ceremonies kick off the tournament and tell the audience of the host nation that there's a festival in town and they should come out and watch.
Not having an opening ceremony at all felt like a needless cost-cutting thing when it was first revealed. Shifting it to the middle of the tournament reeks of disrespect.
Imagine this. England's hosting the 2027 World Cup. Instead of having an opening ceremony ahead of an India-Pakistan tournament opener, they organized one ahead of their match against Australia, 15 days after the tournament started, involving a big function for those teams. What would Indian fans feel?
They might not show this, they might say they are here to focus on their cricket but it's awkward. It tells them that they are just here under the facade of a World Cup so that the BCCI and the ICC can help organize an India-Pakistan match.
The cries of disrespect from English, Australian, New Zealand, and other countries' media and fans may die down amid the force of PR and marketing ahead of the match. But it leaves a bad taste. It shows that the sport is a medium for the organizers to do whatever they want because the other participants are powerless.
Why just India and Pakistan? When the national anthems are recited ahead of every match, when the toss is held and the same rules followed for every match? Why a celebration of two teams that haven't reached a World Cup final in years?
The most simple answer is that BCCI and the ICC look at this game as different than others. It's the flagship event of the same sport and brings the most revenue.
But the fact that the organizers can have such a big bias for one particular match, gives no confidence that the tournament is being held fairly. Are the pitches being laid with equal effort for all games or just the India-Pakistan game?
Have the inspections and facilities been set up for all teams equally, or have the Indian and Pakistani teams been favored in that because they bring more revenue?
The BCCI seems to have not realized that they are hosts to eight other nations that have come here on merit and deserve the same hospitality.
#2 Carries a wrong precedent
Even if holding matches against Pakistan was mandatory for India, celebrating them wasn't. Isn't this disrespectful to the martyrs and the army (or the politicians fighting against sporting contacts between the countries) that India's cricket board organizes such a grand ceremony to celebrate the same contest?
Isn't it disrespectful to the players who are told to not even share a smile because the countries' armies are killing each other on the battlefield? Whether wrongly or rightly, some of them might have read those posts and felt a need to change their approach. Won't this grand ceremony confuse them?
It's not setting a new precedent. It's carrying forward a pattern that started in the Asia Cup when the whole tournament was organized to make sure that India and Pakistan play as much as possible against each other. When the first match got washed out, the second match was given an exclusive reserve day.
If everything's all about the revenue and that's so wildly accepted by the public, what's stopping special reserve days for future World Cup matches? What's stopping India-Pakistan matches from always getting the best conditions and the other teams being discriminated against?
Different treatment based on income earned is an issue much bigger than this forever-clumsy connection between cricket and politics.
#1 Puts undue pressure on players, both Indian and
Pakistani
Finally, this is the point that would be ignored the most amid this mess: What about the players? Before every such clash between the two neighbors, the captains, coaches, and players are asked the same question again and again - "Do you feel the pressure of the occasion? Is there anything different?"
All of them try and say the same thing: "We are taking it as another game of cricket". Diplomacy is everywhere in cricket now. But this isn't a part of it. This is almost always people who'll actually play the sport trying to keep the pressure out, treat it like nothing special, nothing new, so they can stay sharp and not emotional.
It happens in all sports. It's not that they don't understand what it means to people. It's just that they don't want it to be treated like war or something bigger than it is.
Holding a special ceremony doesn't help it. It won't help Rohit Sharma's players, whom he would've tried to keep down to their basics, to see a special program planned in front of thousands for just one game. They'll be told that it's not just a game. They don't need this extra pressure but they will have to take it.