The article was written for the Corridor of Uncertainty fanzine in the run up to the tour of India in December last 2008.  At the time of writing I still wasn’t sure whether England would be going or not.

cricket-or-chess

This article, written for the Corridor of Uncertainty fanzine in December 2007, is a summary of my research on cricket and identity in South Asia.

cricket-and-identity

Click image to read document

My IPCS paper on cricket and national consciousness in India

The recriminations have been flying almost since the moment the bullets stopped.   What happened on Tuesday 3rd of March was tragic for Pakistan, Sri Lanka and cricket in South Asia.

I don’t really know where to start with this one…..  I was horrified to hear what happened in Lahore – a city that I had a wonderful time in when watching England on 2005.

Much of Pakistan seems to be in denial about what happened.  I’ve seen this absurd piece of ‘evidence’ (110 per cent true!) a number of times on the web now suggesting that India’s spy agency RAW was behind the attacks.

Now I don’t deny that India and Pakistan both interfer in each others internal affairs but RAW shooting Sri Lankan cricketers really is crazy.

Imran Khan has got in on the denial act, suggesting a foreign element – Afghans, Indians, Tamil Tigers – anyone but Pakistanis.   However there are rational voices too that accept, tragically, that this attack was carried out by homegrown extremists (let’s face it we all have some).

‘First off, what did the poor gentle Sri Lankans do to deserve the treatment they in Lahore at our hands?

I ask this question in the manner I do because right-wing pundits and the authorities can bury their heads in the sand and say that this country and its own people had nothing to do with the atrocity; I believe it was no one but Pakistanis who planned, trained for, and did the dastardly deed.’ – http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/pakistan/goodbye-cricket-hello-gulli-danda–szh

Sri Lanka has noted that they do not believe that India was involved in the attacks,

‘‘From our point of view, there is no Indian involvement,’ said Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.

And indeed Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror today says,

‘A little-known militant Muhammad Aqil has been identified by Pakistani security agencies as the mastermind of the audacious attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, but raids across the city to nab him proved futile on Monday as he managed to escape.

The security agencies conducted raids at several places after identifying Aqil, who has links to a banned militant group. However, the name of the group was not revealed.

Though Aqil, who hails from Kahuta, managed to escape, his accomplice Talat was captured.’

Meanwhile aside from the typical Indo-Pak finger pointing that often accompanies acts of violence in either country, the cricketing world is reeling from the shock.  While the Mumbai attacks missed international cricketers by a day or two (and I was adamant at the time that they were not the targets) this time there is no doubt that cricket was the target.

Pakistan’s cricket captain, Younis Khan, pleaded with the international community,

‘I can only plead to everyone don’t abandon Pakistan now or try to isolate it. If this mistake is made, terrorism will have won in Pakistan,’

The 31-year-old said cricket was a binding force for young and old in the country.

‘We don’t have much to cheer about and if you stop cricket activities you are encouraging young minds to be influenced by these militants’.

Ordinary Pakistanis feel the same,

‘For entertainment there is cricket or you can go to a restaurant with your family. But the first priority is cricket,” said Shahzad Mehmood, a 28-year-old accounts clerk who had come to the site of the terror attack to lay flowers. “When we play cricket, or watch cricket, we feel so happy.”

You can read Pakistani bloggers reactions here too.

However in the short term is seems unrealistic that international cricket, or indeed any other sport, will continue in Pakistan.  This is a disaster for an already struggling cricket board, and for all fans of Pakistani cricket.  There have been rumours that Pakistan may play Australia in England next year and from a purely selfish perspective, I would love that to happen but I would prefer to be able to watch Pakistan play cricket at home like I did in 2005.

Even in the slightly longer term, these attacks look like they may have impacted in South Asia’s ability to host the 2011 world cup.  None of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh are risk free and all have been subject to terrorist attacks, civil war and coups.  As Nasser Hussain said,

‘The 2011 world cup due to be staged in the region, has to be in jeopardy’.

In October last year Imran Khan said in a TV interview that militants would never attack cricket in Pakistan because Pakistanis love cricket so much that there would be a backlash.  Well let us only hope that this backlash comes soon and that those determined to destroy Pakistan’s reputation in the world can be prevented from doing further damage.

Will India’s showcase cricket tournament go ahead?

Even before the hideous attack on cricket in Pakistan, the Indian government was voicing concerns about whether the IPL should go ahead on time.   The premier league is going to clash with the Indian general elections.  Anyone who’s been to India during election time knows its a crazy hectic and sometimes a little scary place to be.   I was once in Bihar during an election and the whole place was shut down to prevent chaos and violence.  On a side note – they also don’t serve alcohol in India the day before and during polls, although wierdly once the polling stations shut booze becomes available again.

As soon as the general election dates where announced, some cities became uncomfortable with hosting matches and elections on the same day.  Matches for the Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers are being rescheduled so they don’t clash with polls in Calcutta and Bangalore.   But the government’s unhappiness at the clashes weren’t just about security – there was a fear that coverage of the series would clash with the election campaign.

The BJP said,

‘Election is the biggest festival of the masses in democracy.  If there is any other event that threatens to spoil this party, at least an attempt should be made to prevent it’.

And  a Congress party representative noted,

‘I just appeal to the people to understand that they can watch the same match next June but they will only get to elect the next government only after five year (sic).’

The fear is that the IPL will overshadow the election.

Since the attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and match officials, the concern has grown greater.  Trouble at the IPL would seriously dent India’s standing in the world and negatively impact on India’s reputation as the premier cricketing nation.

Lalit Modi, head of the IPL and the sponsors are pressuring the government to give the go-ahead despite security fears.

‘Advertisers say that there will be an impact if the event is deferred even by a couple of weeks as “there is too much at stake, with close to Rs 1200 crore riding on the event.” Major sponsors of IPL this year include Hero Honda, Coca Cola, Pepsico, Airtel, Vodafone and Kingfisher.

“If IPL is rescheduled, at stake are advertising campaigns, launches and activities – all will be affected. It will upset a lot of facets of advertising connect, leading to chaos. There is nothing that matches it (IPL) in scale and value,” says Tarun Nigam, executive director of Starcom India-north.’ – http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/News/News/Too-much-at-stake-say-advertisers/articleshow/4225451.cms

This poses a huge dilemma for the Indian government and may reflect who holds the real power in India now – big business or government.

If anything happened at the matches, or in the cities holding the matches, whether election-related violence or (more unlikely but still a possibility) some kind of terrorist attack, the government will pay the price.

‘Over the past 48 hours, the Indian government has reached the conclusion that to cancel the IPL, even to avoid clashes with polling in the national elections, would represent an admission of impotence against terrorist attacks that cannot be contemplated. There are many things that can be cancelled without too much damage to national pride, but cricket is not among them. But until the IPL reveals its security plans in detail, and the Indian government clearly states that it is committed to them, then Modi’s assurances that the tournament goes on have an element of promotional bluster.‘ – http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/mar/07/cricket-indianpremierleague

There are of course other factors at play in the Congress government’s calculations.

‘One has also valid reasons to suspect that electoral considerations– the anxiety of the Congress (I) not to step on the toes of Shri Sharad Pawar, who apart from being an influential member of the union cabinet, wears a second hat as the czar of the commercialised cricket world– are also playing a role in preventing a totally professional judgement on the issue.’ – http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090309&fname=ipl&sid=1&pn=1

Lalit Modi has recently said that security for the matches and players will be run by a central committee for the IPL and that the budget will be ‘10 times’ that of last year (no figures given though, although its rumoured to be in the region of £5m). 

However the Indian government has already said that paramilitaries will not be available for players protection, as they’ll be busy making sure the election goes smoothly.

Many players will wait for detailed security plans to be revealed before committing to the tournament.  KP and the New Zealand cricket board have already voiced concerns.

And the latest news is that the IPL is refusing to involve the players association (FICA) in negotiations.  Many players set great store by this organisation that represents their interests, and apparently FICA was closely involved in encouraging England players to go back to India after the Mumbai attacks (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/mar/10/cricket-indian-premier-league ).  The IPL management are opposed to such player representative (another sign of big businesses lack of care for its workers/unions?).

The IPL has said that they security arrangements will be similar to those put in place for England players after the Mumbai attacks.  Well they worked in that no trouble was seen but in Chennai they were patchy at best (sometimes you got frisked, sometimes you didn’t) and oppressive in Mohali – which arguably reduced crowd numbers to disappointing levels.

The current plan is for matches to be held (if the event goes ahead) in more cities, including Ahmedabad (no trouble there, ever!), Cuttack, Nagpur, Dharmshala as well as the original eight franchise cities.  This is great news for fans no doubt but whether it will allow things to go smoothly is questionable.

So as Modi tries to assure everyone that all is well, there’s a lot of arm twisting going on.  For the players and the government there’s some deep thinking to be done – is it safe? will it effect the elections? and is the money really worth it?

Who wins will surely say a lot about the power of big business and politics in modern India.

UPDATE:  Modi has just announced that the IPL will not be staged in India.  So I guess the politicians won.  Although whether it’s really a win is another matter – I guess we’ll just have to watch this space.

The current plan is most likely to involve the IPL being staged in England.  Seems like madness to me – more cricket in April???  Still I for one would love it to be held here as that’ll mean I can go and watch some games.  Bonus!

The Afghan cricket team has come along in leaps and bounds in the last year.

Last year in May I went to watch them play in the World Cricket League Division 5 championship.  They ended up beating Jersey in the final and progressing to division 4.

I got to meet the team through friends of mine that are making a documentary about the team’s journey towards the cricket world cup 2011.  The team were delightful and so friendly.

You should all check out the trailer for the documentary – because it looks awesome – http://www.outoftheashes.tv/trailer.htm

After winning in Jersey the Afghan team was feted back home and a Pashtu journalist for the BBC told me that the cricket team was uniting all sections of Afghan society.  Everyone was proud of the team.

Since then the team has cruised to victory in the division 4 tournament in Tanzania last year, not losing a single match.

Then a couple of weeks ago in Argentina, they managed, after a dodgy start to win again and make it through to the world cup qualifiers in South Africa.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wcl/content/current/story/387176.html

You can read a far better article about the team by one of the film-makers here.

As the article says, the Afghan cricket team is a ‘team called hope’.  Hope that they can make their country proud, hope that they can become successful sportsmen and hope that they can play in the world cup on the subcontinent.  When I first start watching them, I wasn’t sure they’d make it but now, I have faith, Inshallah that Afghanistan will play in the world cup.  And I will be there to watch them.

I’ve added a link on the sidebar here to a BBC radio programme on the Afghan cricket team (From our own correspondent) – check it out, the feature starts at 17 minutes.  Check out it.

Afghanistan Zinbabad!!!

The England cricket team has finally returned to India after the Mumbai attacks.  Whilst I understand why they left India, it did somewaht feel like they were happy to get out of the country that had just thrashed them 5-0.  I can relate to their concerns about returning too, as much as I hate to admit it.  Even I, a seasoned India traveller, at one point wondered about cancelling my trip.  I think it was when I heard the (incorrect) stories about people being shot at Delhi airport that my fear kicked in.

Anyway I have returned.  Just a few hours before the English cricketers as it turns out.  And I hope that this two match series proves that terrorism can’t stop cricket – not that that was the terrorists’ aim.

Stories that the terrorists in Mumbai were ‘targetting’ Brits and Americans’ seem total nonsense to me.  If they were, then they failed miserably since only 22 tourists were killed out of about 180.  It surprises me how few commentators  have failed to point this out.

It has been announced that the England team will donate half their match fees (totally about 35K GBP) to the Mumbai victims which seems like a generous thing to do.  And after my initial cynicism about whether the series would go ahead, I’m glad that the whole team has come back and is willing to show some sort of sympathy with India.  Let’s face it, we’ve been victims of terrorist attacks too.

The thing that really saddens me is the way that India and Pakistan are behaving over this tragedy.  India pointed the finger at Pakistan within hours of the attacks happening.  Its no surprise of course, especially as the Congress government has been heavily criticised for being ’soft’ on terror and with a general election only months away.  However it saddens me that the first thing the government does is point the finger at its’ old enemy.

And Pakistan has not come out of this brilliantly either.  Whilst they have made some attempts to crackdown on the supposed  culprits – Sunday’s attack on the Lashkar-e-Toiba camp on Pakistani Kashmir was an example of this, they are refusing to hand over those caught.   Now I understand that from their point of view, they haven’t seen the evidence, but a gesture of goodwill would have been to hand over the LeT chief.  Of course Pakistan is blamed every time there is an attack in India, even when the true  culprits turn out to be Indian  (for example the bombing of the Samjhauta express – Pakistan was blamed as soon as it happened but it turns out now that the perpatrators were most likely Hindu extremists.  The Indian army lieutenant colonel who’s been caught after bombing Jalgoan (I think) was apparently involved in the Friendship Express bombing).  So I can see why Pakistan is reticent.  But for the sake of the peace process, giving India the head of the LeT would have gone a long way.

Sadly this ratcheting up of tensions between the two neighbours bodes badly for the forthcoming India-Pakistan series.  I’ve been told that even if the Indian government doesn’t prevent the series, the India players have sent a strongly worded letter to the PM saying that they don’t want to go because of Pakistan’s ‘involvement’ with the Mumbai attacks, and because of the Pakistan teams’ dishonesty – drug charges, Shahid Afridi apparently lying about his age  etc etc.

For me, this seems tragic, not least because the Pakistani people haven’t seen Test cricket in their country for such a long time.  Also, as I have said so many times before, India and Pakistan need  people-to-people contact more than ever after the war of words between government.

Let’s hope that since England have returned to play cricket in a country that ’some have described as a war zone’ (copyright Steve Harmison (idiot!) in the Daily Mail).  Other teams will have the courage to tour Pakistan.

I just hope that cricket in South Asia can continue despite the bombs and war of words.

Watch this!!!!

It’s the Indian and Pakistani cricketers fooling around with Shah Rukh Khan.  It’s absolutely brilliant.  And a fine example of cricket for peace!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M7lrGYa6R8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An7ACRUfzA4

This post could also be called ‘The racism in cricket’ or ‘Bad Umpiring: The saga continues…’  The bitterness that surrounds the Indian tour to Australia knows no bounds at the moment.  The Indians are furious about two major issues.  One is perceived bad umpiring and the other is the allegation, and response to, Andrew Symonds claim that Harbhajan Singh called him a ‘Monkey’.  The match referee has banned Harbhajan for three matches because of this allegation http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7174122.stm

and the BCCI have threatened to end the tour.  Now there are obviously a number of issues to be looked at here…

Firstly: racism is cricket is bad.  I don’t think many people would disagree with that.  But it seems as if the evidence is purely hearsay and that wouldn’t stand up in a court of law, would it?  Obviously Symonds is feeling somewhat sensitive because of the way he was treated in India.  Indian fans (caught on TV so no doubt about it) were calling Symonds a monkey when the Aussies toured in India in October 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7050264.stm ).  Now that is plain wrong.  Racism has no place in cricket.   However I wonder if that experience has coloured views on what happened in Sydney.  Symonds is obviously right to complain if he felt he was racially abused, and it should go to the umpires and match referee.  However the investigation seems to have just taken a very one-sided view as there is no video evidence of racial abuse (although TV evidence shows clearly that there were obviously words between Harbhajan and Symonds) and the umpires didn’t hear anything either.  So it came down to one sides word over the other and the Aussie side was taken.  Match referee Mike Procter said ‘I believe that one group was telling the truth’  (http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/329742.html ).  It seems a little bit like the Pakistan ball tampering affair at the Oval in 2006 to me – one side is punished on instinct of the umpires/referees (I think there’s a bit of ‘well you’ve done this kind of things before so you must be guilty…’ in both cases).  So I can see why the Indians are furious about the whole affair.

India are also seething over poor umpiring.  Now this is slightly different.  Most teams are on the receiving end of poor umpiring and whilst its very annoying at the time, I do generally believe that what goes around, comes around and it will usually even itself out.  I mean England had some shocking decisions go against them in SL but there was no huge outcry about it.  Although perhaps of they had been potentially able to win the matches rather than pathetically draw them, things may have been different.  But that’s another issue….  So, whilst the ICC and all involved in the game, should keep the pressure on umpires to be the best, and use technology when they can, I think the Indians maybe pushing this issue a little too hard.

This leads me on to the third issue I want to raise.  The ‘Spirit of Cricket’.  One of the Indian’s complaints about the umpiring was when Ganguly was given out on 51 on the last day to a catch that Michael Clarke claimed he caught cleanly.  The umpires didn’t have a clear view of the catch so they took the word of two very competitive Australian players (Clarke and Ponting) rather than go to video replays – which they are allowed to do.  This happened in the England/Sri Lanka match in Colombo too – Pietersen was judged out even though all the replays (and me at the time) suggested to ball had grounded first.  There is no need for this kind of controversy.  The ICC guidelines clearly allow umpires to go to the third umpire in this kind of situation.  And whilst to take the word of professional cricketers should be enough (if they play in the ‘Spirit of the Game’) it sadly isn’t today.  And this kind of incident sparks a lot of bitterness between teams.

This leads me nicely on to another incident in the Sydney test that wasn’t in the ‘Spirit of the Game’ – Symonds (oh him again!) great knock int he first innings.  The Indians claimed a thick inside edge when Symonds was on 30.  Steve Bucknor gave him ‘not out’ and he went on to make 162.  OK fair enough I guess – a poor decision.  However Symonds went on to say in the media that he knew he was out but wouldn’t walk.  Now that just isn’t cricket!  It’s bad enough not to walk (I know most modern players don’t) but then to brag about it afterwards is just not on.  No wonder he got up the noses of the Indian players.  Indian captain Anil Kumble went on to say that ‘Only one team was playing within the spirit of the game, that’s all I can say.’  ‘Indians fume at Aussies and umpires’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7171843.stm

The Indians and the Australians play the game of cricket passionately.  And all credit to them for that.  But sometimes it seems to me that both sides go a bit overboard.  The Australian aggression is simultaneously boosting and destroying the game.  They are sometimes to only ones willing to play for a win at all costs which is great (I’m talking about India in Calcutta and Bangalore against Pak, and Sri Lanka in Colombo against England – 3 boring draws!) but they are even starting to be disliked by their own supporters for their arrogance and aggression now ‘Ponting must be sacked’ http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/archives/2008/01/ponting_must_be.php

And ‘Open your eyes, Ricky’ http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/329708.html

The Indians on the other hand, for all their skill and style in the game, can come across as a little petulant.  The whole ‘Jelly Bean’ incident in the summer against England (for sure England were very childish for throwing the jelly beans, but the Indians were just as childish for making a huge scene out of it) was just one example of this.  And this Sydney test furore is another.  As I’ve said there are valid issues to be raised but at the same time – threatening to cancel a tour?!!  I am sure to some extent this is just politicking by the BCCI but none of it is really in the ‘Spirit of the Game’.

So let’s hope that 2008 doesn’t continue in this vein and ends up being a year that cricket fans can be proud of!  Happy New Year!

Its taken me a while to write this post as I am also busy writing a paper on cricket and Indian national consciousness….

Anyway enough excuses.

In India in the run-up to the world cup final there was talk that the LTTE would hold off any strikes on Sri Lankan targets as Team Sri Lanka had a chance to win the cup.  Former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe even went as far as to suggest that ‘if the country emulates the men in [dark] blue [and yellow - so as to distinguish from the India's 'Men in Blue], terrorism will be wiped out.’

The Sri Lankan team has a Tamil – in the form of spin genius Murali – and a Muslim – Maharoof.  So is cricket a unifying factor in Sri Lanka?

Sadly it seems not.  Not only did the new branch of the LTTE – the Flying Tigers – launch a daring raid in their new airplanes over the capital of Colombo (power to the city was cut part way through the match in order to prevent the Flying Tigers from reaching their targets) but apparently many older Tamils support India, or in the recent world cup final Australia, rather than Sri Lanka.  However it has been argued that the younger Sri Lankan Tamils do support their national team so maybe gradually cricket can do its bit at uniting this beautiful, fractured island?

Articles in Indian newspapers have agreed with this claim that Tamils support anyone rather than Sri Lanka. One Sri Lankan newspaper editor claimed that ‘The older generations have been through 20 years of ethnic conflict and see everything through that prism.  Though they have no liking for Australia, they would not mind [them] beating Sri Lanka.’   However he also contradicted himself further in the interview when talking about support for the SL team among Tiger cadres and pro-LTTE Tamils by saying ‘cricket and politics are separate.  This is a small island and Tamils see themselves as Sri Lankan in many contexts…’

Its hard to understand how both statements can be said by one person but my experience researching cricket and nationalism has brought me to the conclusion that contradictory emotions can be held by the same person quite easily.  For example it seems quite possible to support Sri Lanka on one day and then India the next just as British Asians can support India or Pakistan in cricket and England in football.  It seems to me that even when fighting for the right for self determination, when it comes to sport supporters can be quite fickle.

I’d love to hear from others out there what they think of these ideas…..  Let me know!  Thanks.