Why India shouldn't go to Pakistan

Broken cricket relationships in the subcontinent aren't about any disputes over the game, nor Hindu-Muslim issues. They are about the state of the nations, and what goes on between them

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

This week's argument isn't about cricket. It's about geopolitics in India's neighbourhood. That's why it begins with cricket. There is no reason for India to go for the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan. All pressures to do so should be tossed. The only prudent course is to seek a venue change.

This isn't an issue of liberalism, hawkishness, nationalism, friendship or hostility, or any rekindling of the SAARC (now what was that?). It is straightforward, if cruel, pragmatism from an incorrigible cricket fan. Playing in Pakistan at this juncture won't be good for India, Pakistan, or the great game of cricket. There will be some ifs and buts and the obvious "whatabouts". These do not matter.

Pakistanis say they came for the ICC World Cup to India and India happily plays them at neutral venues, so why not in their country? The answer is simply that their country isn't in the shape to host something where the stakes could be so high. This isn't an issue of bilateralism. It is about getting your act together, particularly when anti-Indianism runs so high among the followers of the only political force with mass popularity and street power.

Even a whiff of an incident like the violent 1989 shirt-ripping attack on then Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth by a Karachi spectator would be ruinous. It would set back the ties further, derail an ongoing tournament, and harden Indian attitudes on playing Pakistan anywhere at all. If the regime in Pakistan isn't in control of the "street", public opinion in India is fragile. The old nostalgia and cricketing affection for Pakistan are mostly dead, and it's important for both countries - and cricket - to de-risk.