Pakistan measures India in Super 4 Clash or Asia Cup tonight at 7.30pm.
Cricket between Pakistan and India was once a diplomatic opportunity. After the conflict, in amid cross-border tensions, cricket matches are perfect for leaf temperatures, open up dialogues, and start a long and winding road back to normal.
Cricket has now deepened the split. Pakistan and India have a long history of fierce but sports competition, but the extent of cricket politicization is undermining the status of these games. India is responsible. J’Accuse.
But it’s a desire to fight Sunday’s Asian Cup matchthe focus is shake handscancel the press Meetingfans boycott and players publicly publicly political statements. It’s a game in a game, and in a group stage between mismatched players, it’s almost unnecessary. In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing matched, but the political agenda surrounding the game may never be that corrosive.
This is blamed on the doorstep of the Indian Cricket Control Council. Yes, the Pakistan Cricket Council plays a role in Misssteps, but BCCI cultivates an environment that is directly contrary to international sports norms. The theoretical dominant body of the sport, the International Cricket Committee, is nothing more than a wholly-owned subsidiary of BCCI – the international division of BCCI’s business.
This is a shameful situation. It is wrong to pretend that cricket is never political. This is probably the most politicized sport in the world, which is why international games are surrounded by so much passion and emotion.
However, one of the purposes of cricket is to make the game so far away on the sports field at the same time – war minus shooting – while players, fans and game officials show how to compete fiercely, but maintain mutual respect and civilization.
Cricket was run by Australia and England in Australia and the United Kingdom after the Imperial Cricket Conference (1909-1963), followed by the International Cricket Conference (1964-1988). Despite the potential colonialism and racism in these structures, the spirit of cricket is the virtue that heroes are best proven in the field of cricket. “This is not cricket,” the phrase goes beyond the sport and highlights injustice and wrongdoing.
Pakistan measures India today in Super 4 Clash or Asia Cup
Now, it might be the one with a Pakistani lens, at that moment, on a ship on the Sydney Harbor Bridge, lined up in the seats lined up at the 1992 World Cup, South Africa recently welcomed back to this, the highest water mark of a true global and unified force. Now, what will we give to the innocent optimism of that era?
We know the rest. Pakistan has been exciting to win the first Global Television World Cup, losing to India on the way – just like they did in the Championship cricket match. Asian countries work together to work together for the recently established ICC-Pakistan and India to work together for Australia and the United Kingdom. Just let India abandon Asian fables, especially with Pakistan, to make a readjust with Australia and England.
The pretending now is that the voice of any country outside India is important. We know why ICC (a subsidiary of BCCI) has no sanctions. But when India refuses to shake hands with Pakistan and refuses to uphold the spirit of cricket, why are the silence of those morally high horse riders silent, India’s captain made a pre-planned and public political statement at the post-match meeting. You can determine if the players have expressed their opinions on the genocide in Gaza and they will be immediately condemned.
The answer is money. Australia and England would say nothing because they rely on India in business. BCCI is also motivated by money. How about Pakistan and India being in the same group in every global or regional tournament? This is not a mystery, nor is it certain. Cash cows need to be milked.
Money is also an explanation for the BCCI’s performance in the Asian Cup controversy. Despite India’s call for boycott of Pakistan, BCCI hopes to get money from the game. But to have its domestic fanatics, the game between India and Pakistan is tactically politicized.
Unfortunately, there is little discussion of cricket. The short history of Pakistan’s Indian game is that Pakistan is the better team of the 20th century.
Nevertheless, India does tend to beat Pakistan in the ICC Championship, and despite its weaker weak, India does beat Pakistan. As India’s strength grew in the early 21st century, Pakistan fell on the court and on the court. Since then, Pakistan has had a moment of superiority: the 2009 T20 World Cup, the 2016 Test Champion and 2017 Championship Trophy.
However, the trend of cricket performance and political power has been relentlessly downward. Pakistan cricket is weak on and off the court, while India dominates. Pakistan still has talented players but they are forced to not read in international cricket and their talents are destroyed.
The question for Pakistani politicians and PCB is, can the individuals involved put their personal agenda on one hand and rebuild Pakistan as the power of international cricket? Pakistan has no commercial power from other countries. It has brought shortcomings and situations politically by India. The only way to return is through performances on the cricket field.
At present, we expect very little. Pakistan is the loser, especially because the batsmen failed to deliver. They didn’t even do much to the little fish. However, there is potential here, and the only vague hope that Pakistan holds is that one of the batsmen Saim Ayub or Hassan Nawaz will produce a game-winning cameo.
Maybe even Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Haris might win the game. Things happened to strangers, except that there was nothing to suggest that Pakistan overcomes superior teams in the right mindset.
Pakistan reached the super quarter of the Asian Cup with coaches with lack of experience and confidence, lack of track record and lack of integrity in the world competition. Odds are totally against Pakistan’s victory. But hope never dies at the heart of cricket fans – regardless of Dubai, no matter where Pakistan wins many Pakistani wins, Salman Agha’s team has a chance to find their own in the week’s final.
Posted at Dawn on September 21, 2025
Title Image: Shaheen Shah Afridi (L) shot of India’s Jasprit Bumrah watch in the Indian Cup 2025 Twenty20 International Cricket Match in Dubai on September 14.
