Zahid Hussain Political tensions between the two South Asian neighbors have now spilled over to sports events, most recently with India refusing to send its cricket team to Pakistan which is hosting the Champions Trophy this month. The three-week long tournament, which is participated in by the top eight teams, starts Feb. 19. But India will now play all its matches in Dubai, denying the Pakistani audience the opportunity to watch this most important competition between cricket’s two biggest rivals. There are very few such examples in history, where political rivalry has affected sporting relations between the countries. This is not the first time Delhi has refused to send its cricket team to Pakistan. While Pakistan cricket team has regularly visited to play international tournaments, no Indian cricket team has visited Pakistan for the last 13 years. Pakistan participated in the Cricket World Cup held in India last year after being assured that the latter would come for the Champions Trophy, the second most prestigious cricket tournament. But Delhi reneged from the commitment, throwing spanners in the championship. All the matches had been scheduled to take place at three venues in Pakistan — Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi — and India were given the opportunity to play all their games in Lahore, which borders the Indian city of Amritsar. Even this was not acceptable to the Indian government. Although the event was saved after Pakistan agreed to a hybrid system after weeks of wrangling and shifting India’s matches to a neutral ground, it has dampened the excitement generated by the tournament. India’s uncompromising stance has upended the entire schedule of the three-week long tournament. Most troubling is that it is not certain where the semifinal and final will be played. It all depends on whether India makes it to the last stage, though the chances of that happening are quite high given its current ranking. In that case, Pakistan will not be the venue for the final and that will cost it massive financial losses. The wrangling doesn’t end here as Pakistan has announced it will not play in upcoming international cricket tournaments hosted by India in other countries. This tit-for-tat action has come as a huge setback for the game which is massively popular in the two countries. With political tensions escalating over the last several years, the two South Asian rivals have not faced each other outside of global tournaments since 2013. India has not played any matches in Pakistan for more than 16 years. While India won the trophy in 2013, Pakistan secured the last Championship title in 2017, defeating India in the final. Most importantly, they are vital to any television rights deals, making it unlikely a global tournament would be held without them. The 2003 cricket world cup match between Pakistan and India in Ahmedabad has gone down as the most-watched cricket broadcast in history and some tickets on the black market were reportedly sold for as much as $300,000. India’s refusal to play in Pakistan will also cause a massive loss of revenues. The Indian government has cited security concerns but many observers believe that was not the real reason India didn’t want to come to Pakistan. If player security was the reason, none of the other teams would have come to Pakistan either. Over the last few years, almost all major national cricket teams have visited Pakistan and there have never been any security problems. Islamabad is aware that it could face numerous geopolitical consequences if security arrangements during the championship fail. According to some analysts, the reason for India not sending its cricket team is not only political but also to deny Pakistan the enormous amount of revenue that it would have gained with an India- Pakistan match. With he two countries playing at neutral ground, Pakistan stands to lose huge amounts of gate money. In the past, so-called ‘cricket diplomacy’ has helped ease tensions between the two rivals. In 1987, the military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq made a surprise visit to India to watch a cricket test match between the two countries. The visit came at a time of heightened tensions and was described as ‘cricket for peace.’ The most successful period of cricket diplomacy came between 2003 and 2008 – a time in which two test series were played in Pakistan and two in India. But the situation changed after the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai allegedly carried out by a Pakistani-based militant group. The worsening relations between the two countries has also manifested in sports. The Indian stance has toughened since the installation of its right-wing government. This also marked the demise of ‘cricket diplomacy.’ This championship would have been a great opportunity to ease tensions had the Indian government not mixed cricket with politics. Courtesy: arabnews