cricketing+diplomacy2

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Cricketing Diplomacy

Ram Prasad 30th March 2011

If there is one real battle which exceeds the M-in Law- & D-inLaw then it should be the cricketing war between India &Pakistan, with both sides fighting till the very end for theiconic title of one-upmanship over cricket and cricketemerges winner in this entire seeming entertaining episodewith its attendant melodramatic scenes and emotions.

If the great battle of Ashes restores pedigree to cricket in itsorthodox fashion of returning over the urn of Ashes, then itspuerile form of entertainment rests with sub-continentalrivalry established between India- Pakistan. The melodramahas been the corner stone of entertainment right from thedays of A H Kardar and Mushtaq Ali who wereincidentally two players who played for un-partitioned India against Services Team of Australialed by legendary Lindsay Hassette in the mid 1946.

The entertainment quotient was never missing from bothsides of the border, starting from the crafty medium pace ofM J Gopalan to the fiery pace bowling of Fazal Mahmoodto counterattacking batsmen ship of Vijay Hazare,cricketing folklore was established to connect the dots ofemerging nations who had some un finished agenda evenafter partition, may be Kashmir!

With two major wars fought immediately after theindependence in 1948 and in 1965, Pakistan could not ableto accept the reality of constitutionally and democraticstable India.


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Then came the teaser of 1971 Bangladesh liberationand followed with Simla Agreement of 1972( proposed on the lines of Henry Kissinger/ RichardNixon) the big brother India was magnanimous to not

to alter the Line of Actual Control to pre 1947 statusand even gifted the famous Karakoram Highwayleading to Aksai Chin(a).

Cricketing ties were at lowest ebb and no water had flownover the Indus Riversince cricket ties between two nationswere non existent until the goodwill prevailed in the minds ofmandarins ofNorth Block under Morarji Desai and AtalBehari Vajpayee and first of the initiative of resuminga constructive dialogue started to roll on in the form

of setting up of Consular General in Karachi andBombayrespectively during the brief interregnum of JanataParty rule in 1978. India toured Pakistan after a gap of 18years ( 1960s was the last tour to be played between twocountries) and India in its batting had opening the battingand bowling respectively. Gundappa Vishvanath andSunil Gavaskar the brothers in law SurinderAmarnath and Mohinder Amarnath bros with theblessings of Lala Amaranath being the chief selector

toured to Pakistan. Pakistan ably had Mushtaq andSadiq Mohd brothers of the original little Master,legendary Hanif Mohd and with cousins Majid Khanand Imran Khan

Bishen Bedi was humiliated and had his last laugh and wasin vintages of retirement after his mauling by Imran Khan toromp Pakistan home. That series saw the emergence ofgreatest fast- medium swing bowler who could bowl on adust bowl of pitches with his devilish attitude- KAPIL DEVIL , with Sadiq Mohd signaling the dressing room forthe helmet, the sign of Indian fast bowler- strikebowler had EMERGED!! ( Ref: Idols by SunnyGavaskar) India lost the series 2-0 and Pakistan wastowing with US to dethrone the Afghan interventionof USSR in the autumn of 1979!!!! Pakistan had its own


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share of tumultuous historical course labeled as failedstate by the CIA and with military voice heard than thediplomats over Islamabad, Rawalpindi was calling shots evennow. As a part of restoring gestures and diplomatic

entourage began, and Prime Minister Morarji Desai wasconferred Nishan-e- Pakistan, highest civilian award(equivalent of Indian Bharta Ratna) by militaryhawkish Gen. Zia-ul- Haq in 1987 and in returndiplomacy, Rajiv Gandhi conferred Bharat Ratna toFrontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khanposthumously in 1988.

Gun& Bat Diplomacy1978- 1987

Suddenly cricketing diplomacy seemed to work its way outto find solutions which the military actions could not able toenforce. India& Pakistan jointly bided and hosted theReliance World Cup 1987, first time outside the cordons ofEnglish Channel and cricket making waves with Gen. Zia- ul-Haq visiting Indo-Pak match at Jaipur and to counter theIndian belligerence designed by (another officer &

gentleman from this side of border ) GeneralKrishnawamy Sundarji in countering and nukingPakistans KRL or Kahuta Research Laborotories ofLahore in his famous Operation Brasstacks of 1987.The heat waves of Rajasthan nor the guile ofPakistani pacers could cool off, such was thetemperature of high voltage and entertaining dramawitnessed n the cauldrons of power in Rawalpindi andSouth Block, New Delhi.

If guns were firing at borders then there was one yogiwho was doing his karma, with unclenched attitude indust bowls of mining pitches of ChinnaswamyStadium and that was none other than SunnyGavaskar, what ought to have been an 35th Century in


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the annals of the game, was stopped by thehorrendous appeals of Pakistani close- in fielderswith NO UDRS or referrals, it was the sole discretionsof V K Ramaswamy, leaving India lose by 16 runs

coinciding with Imran vision for 1987s agenda ofWinning India in India and England in England and WC1987, the first two materialized and final aspirationdid not take off albeit in 1987, but in 1992 WC,holding aloft the B& H Trophy and culminating inShaukat Khannon Hospital..

Finally, both India & Pakistan meandered their ways to thechanging global scenario and stopped short of jingoism andcreating a ambience for Track 2 diplomacy to move away

from the sheen of media glare, political cynics.

India lost its way in the semi finals of 1987 to Goochssweeps and he swept to a convincing English victory and McDermott stopped the Pakistani cavalry marching by halting17 runs before winning and victory, and Aussies winning theAll- Anglo Saxon finale of 1987 and lifting the cup toSouthern Cross.

Unstable India & Unpredictable Pakistan- 1990s

The early 1990s saw the change of guard in India after theelections of November 1989 paving to the left-centre JanataDal headed by Visvanath Pratap Singh or Raja of Mandaentering to feverish battle with the Daughter of East MsBenazir Bhutto pitching for 1000 years of war on Kashmirand a equal rebuttal by kshatriya Raja, VP Singh to face theIndian army for a protracted 1000 hours were the comedy oferrors formed the part of rhetoric unleashed from both sides.

The time also saw the emergence of little master genius inTendulkar who made his debut as a school boy whizkid in themaidans of Faislabad in the murky winter of1989 and taking


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Abdul Quadir & Co to shed his piece of ego and reincarnatethe game of Cricket and as the clich goes, rest is history..

1990s Sharajah Shariat-

Cricket was at lowest ebb between two neighbors withSharajah hosting the infamous CBFS ( Cricket BenevolentFund Series can be rechristened as Cricket Betting FundingSeries) were almost all the series between India vs Pakistanwere designed by the syndicates operating from the sevenemirate sheikhdoms and cricket lost its- INNOCENCE theless said is better.

1992 B& H WC

This was supposed to be match watched with more fanfareand India took Pakistan in the World Cup for the first time inSydney and it was March 6, 1992, and India bulwark ofestablishment countering the Imrans supremacy in a neutralvenue and India ramped home to win by 39 runs. theexploits of the young boyish Tendulkar and Kapil Devils 6rover wide-ish square point or sweeper cover is regal

memorabilia for cricketing cynosures like me.

1996 PIL COM ITC WC

If 1992 WC cricket was avatar for professional of pyjamacricket where cricket was played and watched during thedinner time, with colored clothing and merchandise, 1996was the huge money spinner in terms of sponsorship rightsand who can doubt the Marwari brains of Jagmohan Dalmiain globalizing the cricket and non-descript cricketing teamslike UAE/ Kenya took part and to the amazing swashbucklingbatting of Sanath Jayasurya and Rumesh Kaluwitharana, whowithered every bowling attack under the sun to bag thetrophy from the daughter of the East, Benazir Bhutto and as


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usual Ranatunga walked way with his prompt walking toadore his cup board with ITC trophy.

Though the final was almost expected as the entire Sri

Lankan unit were doing admirably well , the match of thetournament was the match witnessed between (even Godswere standing in the heaven ) sub continental rivals, Indo-Pak, the QF @ Chinnaswamy Stadium, the date was a stableSaturday, March 9, 1996, and India due to the exemplarybatting display by Tendulkar/ Sidhu/ and who can forget theun imaginable Jadejas 46 runs of 24 balls cantering Indiahome to another 39 run victory. As they say discretion isbetter than valor or discretion is better part of valor, AmarSohail certainly would have learned his lessons of playing

indiscrete/ rush of blood shot and quickly Venkatesh Prasadshowing the way to Amir s pavilion, Indian emergence toPakistani mind games were put to an halt, as this generationof Face book goers are un interested in the pedigree of theirgrandfathers with empowerment and independent thinkingbecoming the thinking hats of Argumentative Indians!

1999 Bus Diplomacy- Road to Lahore via Rawalpindi

Cricketing ties resumed in winter of 1998-99 and Chennaihosting the first of the two test match series of FriendshipSeries and Pakistan won the match at Chennai and leadingto some of the finest sports appreciation of century withChepauk Chennai, admirably executing a exhaltingbeheviour to the guests which is to remembered in theannals of the history of the game.

1999 also significantly marked the de-tour in Indian thinkingand paving way forward to engage Pakistan in all itsassemblage in the form of- trade, cultural, literature,business apart from diplomacy. But the road envisioned byPrime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to foster a warm


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relations even after 50 years of Partition could not stand thevisceral approval of generals from Pindi HQ, where thehawks drove the doves and this time it was the mis-adventure of Gen. Musharaff in Kargil in June 1999.

Operation Vijay was won over by Gen VP Malick what wassupposed to be high costly pyrrhic victory for Indians .During this time of war-mongering doing rounds with heavysound- bites from none too shy George Fernandes in the foothills of Tiger Hills, India was taking Pakistan at Birmingham,England in 1999 Word Cup and with Venkatesh Prasadencrypting a 5-28 settling the scores for Indias favor, Indiasailed home to beat Pakistan by 40 odd runs. This victorywas a morale booster for the security forces stationed in

Tiger Hills leading to retracting to original spots by Pakistani

Army at the behest of hotlines established by PresidentClinton. The morale of the story is - road to Islamabadgoes via Washington.

2003 WC

The high voltage of 2003 episode was the clash of Shoaib

Akthars toe crushing Yorkers to smothering upper cuts bySehwags andTendulkar mince meating Pakistan to all tocomfortable victory with Tendulkar falling short by 2 runsand once again exhibiting his selfless character to show thathe is karma yogi backed with strithaprajna lakshana,steadied thinking or undistracted thinking by thinkingcluttering, essaying the footsteps of Sri Krsna to Arjuna inthe famous Bagwad Gita (Certainly lots of parallel can bedrawn, and that a separate lecture can be set for it)

2007 WC

2007 WC was a fiasco by word cup standards and both Indiaand Pakistan getting an exit route or rout early and India


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losing to Bangladesh and Pakistan losing to Ireland, leadingto unglamorous WC with Mandira Bedi anchoring the show!!!

2011 WC

Now with 2011 WC catapulted at Mohali, Chandigarh, andwith more water has flown over Indus with last yearPakistan also facing huge deluge in Indus over flowing andIndia yet to come to terms with Mumbai fiasco of 26/11, stilllots of lost ground needs to be met apart from cricketinghistronics. Though cricket may be the eventual winner in thishistrionics, I want India to come up to terms of Pakistan not

only in cricketing terms but also in other forms ofconstructive engagement- in developing a Asian Free TradeZone- renewing of Most Favored Nations ( both nations arerunning with higher trust deficits in business also, apart frompolitics) and creating of single window markets like ASEAN orEuropean Union towards better camaraderie and improvethe rankings in HDI Human Development Index- CPI-Corrpution Perception Index and by thinking forward andmoving ahead of times and restoring the pride of Indus

Valley Civilization from trust deficit to responsibility agendasetting by creating South Asia a prosperous and tension lessregion.

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