India's pull out was only a matter of time
The indications were getting stronger and stronger by the day
Partab Ramchand
22-Aug-2001
The indications were getting stronger and stronger by the day. And yet
when the formal announcement was made on Tuesday, it came as the
proverbial death blow to the hopes of the average Indian cricket fan.
He is an eternal optimist where the game is concerned and would have
assumed that with all the tough talk, the Indian government would
finally relent and allow the national team to take part in the Asian
Test Championship. Now that the decision has been taken, it is perhaps
time not only to look back at the developments that led to the pull
out, but more importantly, the future of India-Pakistan cricketing
ties and the game in the region.
To take the second point first, it is hard not to be pessimistic.
There are bound to be serious repercussions, if the immediate reaction
from Pakistan is any indication. Zakir Sayed, the secretary of the
Asian Cricket Council has already accused India of going back on its
"commitment" to play in the ATC. Reacting to the Indian government's
decision not to take part in the championship, Sayed said that the
entire ACC programme, including the India-Pakistan match, was drawn up
with the "permission of the Indian government."
"It was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India AC
Muthiah who had obtained permission from the government and worked out
the ATC schedule at the ACC meeting in Lahore sometime back," Syed
said. "Having given permission to the competition, it is strange on
the part of India to go back on its own commitment," he said, adding
"we have tried our best to take India along but it is sad that India
have chosen to opt out."
According to sources, the Indian decision to boycott the ATC was a
fallout of the Kargil conflict in 1999. This is not hard to believe.
After all, India had cancelled a scheduled cricket tour of Pakistan in
December last year and then pulled out of the Sharjah series in April.
India has repeatedly refused to participate in any bilateral cricket
series with Pakistan, whom it accuses of backing cross-border
terrorism in Kashmir.
Just how important the decision was is conveyed by the fact that it
was taken at a high level meeting between Prime Minister Vajpayee,
Home Minister Advani and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. Their
discussions were on the basis of a letter written by Sports Minister
Uma Bharati to the Prime Minister suggesting India should not
participate in the Championship.
Bharati is considered a hawk on the issue, a firebrand Sports
Minister. She has always believed in speaking out her mind and only on
Monday, she made it clear that India would not be bullied into
participating in the tournament.
"The decision cannot be forced upon the government," Bharati
thundered. She was reacting to the statement made by Asian Cricket
Foundation President Jagmohan Dalmiya that India should convey their
decision by August 23 or the championship would go ahead without them.
"We will not take a decision merely on the threat issued by
someone," retorted Bharati. After this outburst, the pull out was
only a matter of time.
It is commonly believed that politics and sport should not mix but
this is easier said than done. And where India-Pakistan cricket ties
are concerned, keeping politics and sport apart is next to impossible.
There is little doubt that much hinged on the Vajpayee-Musharraf
summit in Agra last month. The failure of that meeting meant many
things and among these, it was clear that cricketing ties would suffer
a setback.
Despite all the goodwill gestures generated by cricket officials from
the two countries while drawing up the fixtures for the ATC at Lahore
in May, there was always the lurking doubt that all was not hunky
dory. At that time itself, some of the comments made by the Pakistan
Cricket Board chairman Gen Tauqir Zia, the lack of assurance by the
Indian government on a bilateral series and the long troubled history
of cricketing ties between the two countries had all led to there
being a strong undercurrent of tension and uncertainty over not only
the ATC but also the future of India-Pakistan cricket ties.
But not even the most cynical observer of the strained cricketing
relations between the two countries would have bargained for such a
quick torpedo to be thrown at an already besieged boat. Within just 72
hours of the announcement of the fixtures in Lahore, the Indian
government threw a heavy spanner into the works. First, Bharati,
unhappy at the `unilateral announcement' that India would play
Pakistan at Karachi during the ATC in September, conveyed the
government's displeasure to the president of the Board of Control for
Cricket in India, AC Muthiah over the issue.
About the same time, a second salvo was fired by Jaswant Singh who
said that the Indian Government was against cricket matches between
India and Pakistan bilaterally as the one-dayers between the two
countries and their televised aspect made them "less cricket and more
gladiatorial contests." Replying to a question on the government's
decision not to play cricket with Pakistan, he added that given the
prevailing atmosphere, it was not advisable for extended cricket tours
bilaterally of that nature. After that, it had to be downhill all the
way.
From India's viewpoint, there is one more disturbing aspect. At the
ACC meeting in May, it was agreed to have a system by which a side
failing to honour contractual obligations to play in a series has to
offer compensation to its rival team. For long, Pakistan had been
demanding such a compensation clause to be included in the ICC's tenyear calendar for Test playing countries. After claiming that India's
decision to cancel its scheduled tour to Pakistan last year had cost
substantial financial losses to it, the PCB had urged the ICC to
introduce such a clause to deter any country from going back on
playing commitments in future. Being a signatory at the ACC meeting
has now put India at a considerable disadvantage.
Also, according to the ICC's ten year tour programme, India is
scheduled to play against Pakistan in Pakistan three times. In
addition to this, India has also agreed to take part in the Asia Cup
to be played in Pakistan in 2002. At the moment, given the current
developments, nothing can be certain about India-Pakistan cricket
ties.
Current developments can turn even the most supreme optimist into an
out and out cynic. Under the circumstances, can one be blamed for
reasoning that the future of India-Pakistan cricketing ties is bleak?
There was a time when the two countries did not meet on the cricket
field for more than 17 years. Are we in for something similar again?