Some Indian politicians and former cricketers have called on their country to boycott its matches with Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup tournament, as the two arch-rival teams are set to face each other in Dubai today.
An India-Pakistan cricket match is always a blockbuster. Still, emotions will run even higher in today’s Asia Cup clash between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who fought a four-day military conflict in May. The countries have been at odds in various matters since then, including claims of downing jets, ceasefire requests, geopolitical narratives and of course, cricket.
Several former Indian players and politicians have urged the BCCI to boycott what will be the first meeting between the teams since the recent hostilities. New Delhi only cleared the match in a recently announced sports policy, saying the Indian national team can play Pakistan in multi-national events but not in bilateral competitions.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, head of the Shiv Sena-UBT party, has announced that his party will organise protests across the state against the game, Hindustan Times reported.
“Our prime minister said blood and water cannot flow together, so how can blood and cricket flow together? How can war and cricket be at the same time? They have done business in patriotism. The business of patriotism is only for money. They are going to play the match tomorrow also because they want all the money they will get from that match,” he was quoted as saying.
Later, Indian news agency ANI shared on X a video, with a caption saying, “Shiv Sena (UBT) burns Pakistani national flag in front of Thiruvananthapuram AG’s office in protest against India vs Pakistan match today in Asia Cup.”
Ahead of today’s game, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal posted on X: “Playing a match with Pakistan is treason against the country. Every Indian is extremely angry about this.”
He was commenting on a post by AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj, who wrote: “Blood and sports cannot go together.”
ANI also talked to a Congress leader, Ajay Rai, on that matter, who urged the Supreme Court of India to stop the country’s team from playing against Pakistan in accordance with “public sentiment”.
A day ago, the AAP protested against the match between Men in Blue and Green Shirts, with Bharadwaj and party workers burning an effigy symbolising Pakistani players, The Hindu reported.
Former cricketer Kedhar Jadhav, also a part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the India-Pakistan fixture should not go ahead.
“I don’t know what will happen, but I have already said that according to me, this match should not be played,” Jadhav was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
The matter had also reached the Indian top court as four law students filed a petition against the match, contending that it was “against national interest”. But the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the plea.
Indian news anchor Shiv Aroor said Asia Cup was “precisely the opportunity the [Government of India] should have taken to signal that Pahalgam & [Operation] Sindoor = new rules on terror”, referring to New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which Pakistan strongly denied.
“‘Multilateral tournament’ excuses are pathetic, embarrassing. We make the rules,” Aroor said on X.
Meanwhile, a video clip of Indian anchorperson Arnab Goswami has been doing rounds on social media where he is calling for the match’s boycott and and saying that this match should garner the lowest television rankings. He went on to question the Indian cricket board and Sony TV, which has the broadcasting rights for the Asia Cup, that who gave “permission for the match”.
Ex-cricketer and politician Manoj Tiwary told ANI he was boycotting the match, as well as the entire Asia Cup. “It needs to be understood that this is just a sport; this is not life. We are comparing human lives to sports; this should never be done.”
He also questioned the BCCI’s “justification” for playing the matches, adding that the team could have forfeited today’s face-off and reached the finals by winning other games.
‘A compulsion’
On the other hand, BJP lawmaker and former sports minister Anurag Thakur defended the BCCI’s stance on playing against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
“When multinational tournaments are organised by ACC or ICC, it becomes a compulsion, a necessity for nations to participate,” he told ANI.
“If they don’t do that, they will be eliminated from the tournament, they will have to forfeit the match, and the other team will get the points,” he added, before pointing out that India does not play bilateral tournaments with Pakistan.
Actor Suniel Shetty, father-in-law of cricketer KL Rahul, echoed similar sentiments: “It’s a world sporting body. They have to abide by those rules and regulations because there are a lot of other sports and a lot of athletes who are involved in them.
“As Indians, I think that is our personal call that we have to take, whether we want to see it, whether we don’t want to see it […] and that’s a call India has to take, but you cannot blame cricketers for playing because they are sportsmen, they are expected to represent the country,” he told reporters.
On this side of the border, former captain Wasim Akram has urged Pakistani and Indian cricketers to ignore the noise and “enjoy” the game. “Forget about everything other than cricket. One team will win, and one team will lose,” he told AFP.
BCCI defends stance, citing future hosting risks
However, Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Secretary Devajit Saikia defended his country’s decision to play against Pakistan. He told Hindustan Times that it was an international tournament and that a boycott would “bring a lot of negativity for all our future endeavours of hosting any multinational tournament”.
“Had it been a bilateral tournament, we could have always said that we would not play against any hostile country. And so far as Pakistan is concerned, we are not playing any bilateral tournament since 2012-13 onwards,” he added.
India’s fielding coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the team has been instructed to strictly follow the directives of the BCCI and the Indian government. He added that head coach Gautam Gambhir, who in May had also called for a boycott, has called for focus on cricket.
“Our thing is, you separate sports and politics,” he said. “I understand the sentiment, but we are following the directives of BCCI and the government. We are going by what the government and BCCI told us.
“The Asia Cup was in limbo for a long period of time, and we didn’t think we’d be coming at one stage, but obviously the Indian government stance in it and now you have to put the sentiment and emotions behind … it’s something we addressed in the team meeting today,“ ten Doeschate added.
Still, Hindustan Times, citing a report in Dainik Jagran, said “most” BCCI officials have decided to distance themselves from the upcoming India-Pakistan match. The report claimed that a BCCI official would only be seen on-camera if India won.
Today’s clash could be the first of three as both India and Pakistan are favourites to qualify for the Super Four stage and possibly for the September 28 final.
In May, the BCCI had denied reports of withdrawal from all Asian Cricket Council (ACC) events amid recent tensions with Pakistan.
