India Vs Pakistan - Is it the mother of all games?

India Vs Pakistan in a Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals is the best the fans of both the nations look for. It is THE final as far as the fans of both the nations are concerned. An Indian wants the Indian Team to win this Semi-final and would not mind even if the Indian Team loses in the World Cup Finals. Similarly, a Pakistani wants his team to win this Semi-final and would not mind even if the Pakistan Team loses in the World Cup Finals. The Prime Minister of India is trying to take advantage of the situation and carve a Cricket Diplomacy by inviting the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan to attend the Game. This cricket match is also tipped as one of the greatest rivalries challenging even the Ashes – England, Australia rivalry. This match is considered as an unprecedented rivalry in the history of the game.

Well, all of what I have said so far is there out in the Media, which is busy churning out special programs to garner a fair bit of Television Rating Points. Media, like the politicians, is not an exception to take full advantage of the situation in hand.

I personally do not endorse any of these theories. India Vs Pakistan is just another game in the Semi-Finals. The game is bigger than any player, team and rivalry. The game has its own way of equalizing things.

The jingoist might say whatever they want but the fact of the matter is, both the teams need a win in the Semi-Finals to enter the Finals. The Players of the winning team will not be satisfied until they get their hands on the World Cup. There is no replacement for winning a world cup.

Coming to the rivalry part, it is not clear how these two teams can be termed as equal when their rankings are way apart. Every Indian or Pakistani who got a chance to speak in front of the camera in the past 72 hours has talked about how the general public likes each other. The people of both nations share a common lingo, same cuisine and have extended great hospitality whenever the other team has visited them in the recent past. Now, if the general public has no animosity and love each other so much, why do you dub this as a rivalry. Shouldn’t it be more of a festival when the two neighbors play the game in the world stage?

The hype is uncalled for and a huge pile of expectation is built on the Players. This will make the winner of this semi-final game as the conqueror of the World. Every minimal effort that contributes to the success of the team will be gloried and every failure will be magnified beyond proportions. It is good that the wise-men in the BCCI and PCB have instructed their players to refrain from reading the Newspapers, listening to Radio and watching Television.

Some people talk about the statistics. The stats say that India has not lost to Pakistan in the World Cup. This does not mean anything as it was played by different sets of players in different conditions over these years. Statistics can help you gain confidence and also lose the same. The Indians who go by the statistics must also look into the unbeaten match record of Pakistan in Mohali. Statistics are merely a post-mortem analysis of the game and in no way plays a role in playing the game. If the perception of Statistics followers is true, then India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even Australia would not have won the World Cup. Statistically West Indies won the initial world cups and had a unbeaten record.

The teams that have won the World Cup so far have had their captains contributing a lot and leading from the front. Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Allan Border, Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Ricky Ponting have all had contributed heavily in their campaign to World Cup triumph. Going by this, Afridi’s contribution to his team in this World Cup has been phenomenal. Sangakara is the only other Captain who has had a great World Cup. The rest of the Captains have all had an ordinary outing, including MS Dhoni. If you go by this pattern it would be fair to argue that Pakistan and Sri Lanka should be the deserving Finalists.

On a Captain Vs Captain comparison, none of them have any edge. The captain cool of India will be countered by emotional Afridi who can lift his whole team. Dhoni’s cool nature might increase the pressure on the players or help them cool down as well. It is a big question. Afridi’s aggression can help his team kill the pressure or help them succumb to it. This is also a big question. Dhoni’s calm will nullify Afridi’s aggression. So there is nothing to choose from.

Now to the politics of it. The Indian Prime Minister has invited the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan to witness the game along with him in Mohali. This would be followed by a Dinner. Analysts call this a master stroke from the PM of India. What is the big deal in this? I don’t think it is any harm in inviting them as they are not going to talk about 26/11 or J & K. Unfortunately one of the Premiers is going to be dejected at the end of the Game, as only one side can win. Many believe that this gesture by the Indian PM is an ice-breaker. Is it more important for him now to break the Ice with Pakistan or should he be more keen in breaking the ice with the BJP? As long as the intention is to divert the attention of the Public from the Cash-for-Vote and other issues.

With the parliament not functioning the way it should be over the last 2 sessions, it would have been great had the PM invited L.K. Advani and his top brass to witness the game along with him in Mohali. What a sight it would be to see Advani and Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Sushma Swaraj, Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi, Chidambaram and Arun Jaitley sitting next to each other and watching the game together! Such an act would have surely sent a great message to the whole population of India. If the two Ambanis also sit together and watch this game, then truly and squarely the Game of Cricket will be a hailed as a peace ambassador!

The Pakistan Team which has been consistently inconsistent has suddenly gone on a roll with very uncharacteristically consistent performance. Indian Team on the contrary has despite few hiccups have performed reasonably well in this World Cup. Both these teams on their day can be very dangerous. This might sound like a great contest but I don’t think so. It has been drizzling for some time now in Mohali (as I write this). Rain could play a spoilt sport or one team will dominate the game. I do not see a close contest.

Is it the mother of the all games? I don’t think so either. The two countries had the same motherland some years ago. The word ‘Mother’ is linking these two countries together.

It is just another game and may the best team that performs tomorrow win the game! All said and done the team that befriends the lady luck tomorrow will march through to the Finals.