India-Pakistan Can Never Be 'Just Another Game'

Most cricket supporters, save for those of two countries, probably see the Ashes as the dominant force in the game. Well, they’d be wrong, at least in terms of sheer passion and numbers.

If you took every person interested in the outcome of an Ashes match who has ever lived, all the way back to the first one in 1882, it would still not exceed the hundreds of millions captivated on any given day when India play Pakistan – as they will this Sunday in Manchester.

Begrudging neighbours, this is a titanic meeting whatever the circumstance, though one much rarer than it used to be due to political differences and the increasingly dingdong rhetoric over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

In fact, it was another recent skirmish on that border which saw India threaten to withdraw from Sunday’s match with their government’s backing, though that threat seems to have dissipated for the moment.

Although cricket is the pre-eminent sport of both countries, the pair’s rivalry goes beyond that to the ideological, which may explain the zealous nature of the support. Although simmering ever since British India was split into two in 1947, the so-called Partition, it has new points of reference for its grievances, such as India’s tremendous wealth from cricket as compared to Pakistan’s relative penury.

The former means that India, citing force majeure, have not fulfilled the ICC’s Future Tours Agreement for the past 12 years, at least not when it comes to Pakistan. Only Pakistan has suffered, though, the loss of revenues in TV rights alone costing them U$100m. Perhaps more pertinently, who knows what will happen to the newly-minted Test Championship if India, backed by the Indian government, continues this hardline stance.