KARACHI, May 22: The Indian cricket board on Tuesday said the national team will face no obstacles in touring Pakistan for next year’s Asia Cup and the Asian Test Championship.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president A.C. Muthiah said the government’s guidelines were clear and that the team will not be stopped from competing in multination competitions.
“The sports ministry has clearly said that there will be no bar on the Indian team participating in any multination tournament wherever it is played,” Muthiah said.
Actually, the BCCI has NEVER had any problems with the Indian team playing anybody anywhere. If it was left to them they would probably want to organize India-Pakistan cricket series in every concievable part of the world all through the year so that they could rake in as much money for themselves as possible.
Thankfully its the Indian Govt. and not the BCCI that has the final say. The Indian Govt.'s stated policy today is that India can play Pakistan in multi-nations tournament. However this can easily change at the time of the tournament depending on the prevailing political and national-mood vis-a-vis Pakistan especially with regard to the fact that this particular multi-nation tournament is taking place in Pakistan and not in a third country.
One more thing that I would like to mention here is that..... politics apart, the Indian Govt. should also consider the security and well-being of the Indian players in Pakistan when making the decision.It does not take too much for a fanatic mulla well-fed on anti-India literature to jump the fence and rush into the field with more than just a "hand-shake" in mind. In 1989, the then India captain Srikanth was accosted by a man carrying a knife during a Test match in Pakistan .And this was when Indo-Pak relations were much better.
**
Recently the junior Indian Volleyball team touring Pakistan had to deal with metal objects hurled at them during matches. Infact the Indian embassy officials in the audience were also not spared.**
Please note that I am simply taking the Indian perspective. I am NOT claiming that there are no security problems for the Pakistani players touring India.
[This message has been edited by chilli (edited May 23, 2001).]
Chilli, the hypocrisy of your government is clear. Simply becasue the chance of your team getting beaten by Pakistan is high (The recent record speaks for itself) your government will not let them play cricket with us, hiding behind the excuse of Kashmir, however they allow Indian teams from other sports to play against Pakistan. Where is the consistency. The simple answer is that your government is embarrased about the thrashing they receive at the hands of the Pak team and therefore are using Kashmir as an excuse.
As to objects being hurled and threats to security you were quite right to point out that it is there on both sides. Who can forget the saga of the last test match in Calcutta between Pakistan and India. It does not make any difference whether it is the fanatic mullah or the saffron brigade or the mad men from shiv sena in Bombay.
Ehsan,
I expected your observation to be more objective than the usual "India is afraid of being defeated" crap.
As far as the consistency in Indian govt. policies is concerned.. do you have any doubts at all that Cricket is not the same as Volleyball/TableTennis or even Hockey in India.Over the years, a lot of patriotic sentiment has come to be attached with cricket in the subcontinent.Lets face it, Cricket has long ceased to be "just a game" in India and Pakistan.Cricket players have become role models in India and are treated as national heroes.So Cricket's tryst with Politics is no longer accidental. And it doesn't seem right to many people in India that while some of their countrymen are giving up their life fighting "pak-sponsored terrorism"(from india's perspective) in Kashmir, their heroes and role-models are playing Cricket with Pakistan. Such feelings are exploited to the fullest by unscrupulous politicians (esp. in the BJP/Shiv Sena) to use cricket to play to the gallery.
And ehsan bhai, don't you under-estimate the issue of "security" of the players .
God forbid, but if anyhing untoward was to happen(whether in India or in Pakistan) it will only damage the Indo-Pak relationship further and may be irrepairably. So in the pursuit of keeping politics out of sports, the "safety and well-being" of the players of either side, as a factor, should not be overlooked.
[This message has been edited by chilli (edited May 23, 2001).]
On hand, you are saying that Volleyball/Table Tennis is not the same as cricket and then you have given example of Indian Volleyball team visiting Pakistan and being hurled at and trying to compare volleyball with cricket. Let's take your second statement that the nature of these games and cricket is different but don't u think that instead of stopping them from playing cricket we should encourage the game. I hope you remember that security was an issue in the World Cup that was played in the sub-continent. In that tournament Australia and West Indies didn't want to go to Sri Lanka. Therefore, Pakistani and Indian cricketers played a friendly match in Sri Lanka to show that the security is tighten enough.
Also, it is the responsibility of the host country to provide security and India has got nothing to loose. If it was for only security then Pakistan would never allow Pakistani team to visit India. Even if we forget about Indian team visiting Pakistan then what u have to say about India backing out from the Sharjah cup and other tournaments. I mean you can't expect any security issue there.
Btw, when you say "* And it doesn't seem right to many people in India that while some of their countrymen are giving up their life fighting "pak-sponsored terrorism"(from india's perspective) in Kashmir, their heroes and role-models are playing Cricket with Pakistan." then do you mean that there are more **lakeer kay fakeer* in India as I think it should be taken as a Game and if Indians really think that it is a matter of solving Kashmir then why not solve it on the cricket field?
Khan Sahib,
I referred to the experience of the junior Indian volleyball team in Pakistan recently only to highlight that security and safety of Indian players should be an issue.If this can happen to volleyball players (who dont even get much media attention), it can very well happen to cricket players too.
However as far as India refusing to play Pakistan in Sharjah is concerned, it had more to do with political factors that I outlined than with the security of the players.
Really? I can think of atleast 5-6 players in the current Pakistan team which lost to England, whom the members of this forum will themselves gladly murder with their own bare hands!
So, Chilli bhai stating the obvious is not objective now. I sincerely believe that the passion created by the match between Pakistan and India and the likelyhood of India losing the match, is the real reason behind your government not allowing the matches to go ahead. If it was based on the principle of your "jawans" being killed by the freedom fighters in Kashmir than surely your government should cut off all sporting links, not just cricket.
[This message has been edited by ehsan (edited May 24, 2001).]
Is it too difficult to understand that other games are not as important or popular as cricket in India ? I don't know how many Indians are even aware that the junior Indian volleyball team visited Pak recently. So the Govt. policy in their regard is inconsequential.
Can we have Xtreme back as moderator please ?
[This message has been edited by chilli (edited May 24, 2001).]
The question surely is not how popular a game is, rather a matter of principle!!!! What you are saying is that because cricket is popular in India we should not play Pakistan, while it does not matter when it comes to other sports. What happened to your argument that you cannot play Pakistan at cricket because your "Jawans" are laying down their lives for the motherland. That should apply to all sports or do you have double standards. Hence my argument that the real reason of not playing Pakistan at cricket is the fear of losing, rather than any concern for the "Jawans".
Are you going to ask for new moderators, every time you lose an argument.
Ok ehsan listen..
looks like you are bent on arguing with a closed mind........
Let me try one more time.
Take an analogy.
You have ofcourse heard that the Taleban issued a diktat that Hindus need to wear distinguishing clothing in Afghanistan.
A lot of Indians are not concerned because they feel that there aren't too many Hindus in Afghanistan anyway (probably just a couple of 100s).But had this number been BIG, I am sure a lot of people in India would have taken to the streets and things might have got worse.
Similarly it doesnt harm many sentiments if the Volleyball or TableTennis team plays against Pakistan because not too many people follow them anyway.....but it becomes an issue of popular concern when the question of CRICKET comes.
Got it...
I doubt not......
Maine haat khare kar diye.........!!
[This message has been edited by chilli (edited May 24, 2001).]
First of all I am glad that you are aware that there aren't that many Hindus in Afghanistan but yet one thing you will observe in the religion thread that most hindus make this a big issue that Hindus ahve to go through. Isn't it bit selfish of Indians that they don't care if only few Hindus have to go through. Anyhow, I will post something in the religion section later.
Coming to the topic, if India were to play Pakistan in World Cup and other Tournaments then how come people didn't come on to the streets?
Of course they are afraid of loosing.
Chilli does have one point, few would have cared if the junior volleyball team lost but the cricket team???
When the Indians refused to play with pakistan I said that when they were sure of winning they would!! So now we see that now that the pakistani team has lost it’s touch and is loosing more than winning, suddenly India is ready to play!
Well predictably now we see that India is ready to play with Pakistan but not with Australia!! What ‘political’ factors are their with Australia?
“Of course loosing and winning has nothing to do with it!”
Mr. Moderator...
your comments are eagerly awaited on ZZ's point. Lemme put it like this ...what do you think would have caused the sudden evaporation of "India's fear of defeat", now that India has said it will play a test in Pakistan.You are not going to say ..Pakistan's recent performance against England...are you ?
[This message has been edited by chilli (edited May 29, 2001).]
You got the facts wrong once again. I always said the fear of losing was from your government not the cricket board. Even today your government has said they are not happy with the boards decision, and there is no guarantee that they will let them play.
Now can you explain how that patriotic sentiment you have been at pain to explain will behave when they do play Pakistan, and will it seem right to many people now in India that they are playing Pakistan while some of their country men are giving up their life fighting what you call Pak sponsored terrorism. Are all the "Heroes" going to be forgotton?
O...OK so now its the Government not the BOARD or the PEOPLE who fear defeat.. GREAT !! You sure are getting creative by the day buddy .. I dont know what u are going to say next once the Govt. approves the tour.
And as for the "patriotic" thingie.. I had mentioned (if you care to scroll above) that all depends on the prevailing national mood "at that given time". If something like Kargil was to happen it might be a question of sentiments again.A nationalistic party like the BJP sometimes plays on the sentiments factor and sometimes it doesn't.Depends on permutation and combinations of various political equations.
[This message has been edited by chilli (edited May 29, 2001).]