Who will lift the trophy of friendship?
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India's participation in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy tournament, to be hosted by Pakistan from February 19 to March 9, is in doubt. A week ago, India officially announced that it is not ready to play in Pakistan. Like any other cricket tournament, one of the main attractions in the Champions Trophy, where eight countries participate, is the India-Pak matches. Both teams are in the same pool too. If the two countries start competing in one of those countries - or neutral venues like the UAE - it will be a bonanza for TV channels as much as for the ICC. It is also true that this commercial value has probably transcended all aspects of cricket in current times.
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What India has informed the ICC is that it will not play in any Pakistani venues, not in the Champions Trophy as such. After playing in the 2008 Asia Cup in Karachi, the Indian cricket team has not stepped on the Pakistan pitch. No bilateral series of matches have either been played between them. Except for the one time Pakistan played in the World Cup hosted by India in 2023, the other ICC matches were also held in foreign countries. Pakistan wants India to participate in the Champions Trophy by accepting their invitation as a reciprocation of their gesture of participation in 2023.
Also read: ICC cancels Champions Trophy tour in PoK amid BCCI objection
All of India's matches in the 2023 Asian Cup were in Sri Lanka, none of them in the joint host country Pakistan. India needs such a system again. The hybrid method of conducting India's matches in the UAE was conveyed by India to the ICC. This was not acceptable to the hosts Pakistan. Pakistan is trying to somehow ensure India's presence by offering tight security on the assumption that India's main concern is security. It has also been offered that matches can be held at venues of India's choice. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reiterated that the Indian team members can play matches in Lahore and stay in Amritsar to avoid staying in Pakistan. In the wake of the 2009 shooting at the Sri Lankan team's bus in Lahore, security remains a concern, especially in the daily situation of explosions and shootings in the nook and corner of Pakistan, be it in schools, markets, or places of worship.
The factors of consideration in this matter are not limited to cricket. It also has a political and diplomatic background. When it comes to India-Pak cricket, the principle that the players take to the field with a camaraderie and sportsmanlike spirit, notwithstanding political differences, does not materialise always. There may be reasons for that too. But, in February this year, India played Davis Cup tennis with Pakistan after a gap of 60 years which is a bilateral event at that point. Last year Pakistan also came to India to play SAFF Cup football. But cricket is not like football and tennis. There is no other game with such crowd appeal and popular participation in the India-Pak sports context. So here, the rules of the game are somewhat different.
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Things don't seem to get better so easily. Now, when Pakistan is trying hard to make its hosting of the Champions Trophy, a prestigious tournament, a success, it also carries some hope that India will be ready for a small compromise. For this, Pakistan tries to take a cue from the participation of External Affairs Minister Jaishankar in the recently held Shanghai Cooperation Conference in Islamabad, but it was explained as multilateral conference, and not a bilateral event. There were also reports that Pakistan Home Minister Syed Muhsin Naqvi had spoken to Foreign Minister Jaishankar about cricket. It also so happens that at the helm of cricket bodies are Pakistan Home Minister Naqvi as PCB president, and and Indian Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jaishah the secretary of BCCI. But if the two governments are ready to look at things with an open mind, the Pakistan team will be back in India and the Indian team will be back in Pakistan. There was a time when the spectators of both nations would forget everything extraneous to the game and enjoy a good game played in the home country or a third country, even when there was a war-like atmosphere. The contribution of that kind of sporting appreciation and its value to the popularity of cricket is immense. Sports lovers across the border and beyond are waiting for the restoration of such a friendly environment.
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