The words of India coach Gautam Gambhir just hours before his country launched missile strikes against Pakistan now seem eerily prescient given cricketing relations between the two nations are likely to be completely severed.
“My personal answer to this is absolutely no, there should not be anything between India and Pakistan,” Gambhir told an event in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon when asked whether the two countries should continue playing each other at global tournaments.
Gambhir, a former MP for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was channelling the feeling of shock, outrage and defiance felt across India following the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April that saw 26 people killed in Indian-administered Kashmir.
India blamed Pakistan, accusing them of harbouring the terrorist group responsible. The government in Islamabad denies this.
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It did not stop India initiating the biggest military offensive against their neighbours in decades at midnight on Tuesday when missiles were launched against nine sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Punjab.
Pakistan responded with cross-border shelling in Kashmir, stating ominously that it considered India’s military operation – “Operation Sindoor” – an “act of war”.
With scores of people killed on both sides following what’s happened in the past 24 hours and growing fears around the world about how this latest stand-off between two nuclear powers might escalate, cricket seems absolutely trivial. And it is.
Yet the deterioration in political relations between India and Pakistan mirrors what’s happening in sport. And as trivial as cricket is, the prospect of a complete break in relations could have far-reaching ramifications for the sport.
India played Pakistan in Dubai earlier this year (Photo: Getty)The two countries have not played a bilateral Test series since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The last white-ball series between India and Pakistan came during a brief thawing in relations in 2012.
Since, they have only faced each other at International Cricket Council global events, most recently at the Champions Trophy in February in a fixture that was moved from Pakistan to Dubai after India refused to travel to their neighbours for the tournament.
These matches are amongst the most lucrative in sport, with each worth around £3m, and they drive the value of the ICC’s broadcast rights for major tournaments to stratospheric levels.
With the prevailing mood unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, there is a real possibility of these India vs Pakistan matches not being played.
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There are three tournaments where the countries are set to face each other in the next nine months – September’s Asia Cup, the Women’s World Cup in September and October and the Men’s T20 World Cup at the start of next year.
A day after the 22 April terror attack, Pakistan opener Gull Feroza, echoing the stance of her board about travelling across the border for the Women’s World Cup, stated: “It is clear we are not playing in India, nor are we interested in doing so.”
The deal struck with the ICC following India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy means all future matches between the countries must be played at neutral venues.
It’s why Sri Lanka, co-hosts for the next T20 World Cup, is likely to be Pakistan’s base for the tournament that starts in February. Yet whether they will play India then remains in doubt.
This is the biggest military escalation between the two countries since the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971. That saw a freeze in cricketing relations for 17 years between 1961 and 1978.
Indian great Sunil Gavaskar, speaking before the military strikes on Tuesday night, said of the T20 World Cup: “That’s some months away. You never know what will happen. Things can get better. We hope that things can get better.
“Until then, I think it’s very difficult to say. At the moment, if you ask me, if it’s next week, I don’t think India and Pakistan are playing. But this ICC tournament is still a few months away. So anything can happen.”
Gambhir has made his stance clear. And he quickly took to social media early on Wednesday morning, posting the “Operation Sindoor” graphic put out by the Indian military with the caption: “Jai Hind!” – which roughly means “Victory to India” in Hindi.
Speaking on Tuesday, Gambhir had added of facing Pakistan: “Ultimately, this is the government’s decision whether we play them or not.”
Yet the rhetoric from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has changed markedly since Pahalgam. In the days afterwards, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla ruled out the possibility of India ever playing bilateral cricket with Pakistan again, although he did leave the door open for ICC events.
Just a month earlier he had said Pakistan hosting the Champions Trophy was “a good thing”.
Ultimately, the ICC might have the final say. Might the world governing body decide to ban Pakistan from playing international cricket? This appears unlikely given the financials involved. But with Jay Shah, son of India’s home secretary Amit Shah, chairing the ICC nothing can be ruled out.
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