Gore, killings, money and cricket.

Let us put our sports-connect with Pakistan, bilateral or international, in perspective. Especially, cricket. Not because it’s an obscenely rich sport but because cricket transcends all other sports in India. Twenty-six innocent tourists were killed in cold blood in Pahalgam in April-2025, after identifying them for their religion, by Islamist-jihadis from Pakistan. Countrywide, India witnessed about 37 major incidents of terrorism since 1993, involving over 1,400 fatalities, which carry inescapable Pakistan connections. This includes over 70 Bravehearts from our police and armed forces who lost their lives to Pakistani terrorists. Given the history of terrorism in India, can we have any connect with Pakistan, including sports, without any remorse. Remember, we are talking about a country which carries a nefarious agenda to bleed India with thousand cuts.

Better late than never.

In the last decade and a half, India has started taking substantive actions against Pakistan. Bilateral sports stopped after Mumbai attack in 2008. The sub-regional cooperation platform, SAARC, which Pakistan was leveraging to further its hidden agenda, was rendered inoperative in 2014. Pakistanis were barred, albeit late, from the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2017. Following the Pulwama attack, India revoked Pakistan’s Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) trade status in 2019. Delhi-Lahore bus service was suspended in 2019. All rail links to Pakistan were discontinued the same year. Following the Pahalgam massacre in April-2025, the visa related privileges to Pakistanis were withdrawn. The Indus Water Treaty was suspended parallely. India closed its airspace to all Pakistani aircrafts in May-2025 forcing them to fly other corridors.

Physicality needs to be responded with physicality. India carried out three major strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) during the last decade. Surgical strike on the terrorist camps in PoK in 2016 in retaliation of Uri attack. Balakot air strikes in 2019 in response to Pulwama suicide-bombing. Operation Sindoor in 2025 to avenge the Pahalgam massacre.   

We haven’t learnt, still.

In the backdrop of gore, deaths and destruction, some from amongst us favored playing cricket with Pakistan. Conveniently oblivious to the fact that India, as a country, has already decided on its response to issues involving Pakistan. To play, a host of reasons were doled out to the citizenry. Unapologetically. Come to think of it, all discussions on cricket with Pakistan should have elicited one stock response from every Indian. An emphatic no.

It was argued, insinuating a fait accompli, that our candidature to host bigger sporting events like Olympics, Commonwealth, Asian Games etc. would be jeopardized if we didn’t play Pakistan in Asia Cup. This is total humbug. Who is playing the Asia Cup. Its BCCI and not India. BCCI is a private, autonomous organization registered under Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975. It has no formal linkages with the Government of India. Many, in a cricket-crazy country like ours, will find it intriguing that our cricketers represent BCCI and not India. How can refusal of a private, autonomous organization to play a match or two in an intra-continental event like Asia Cup adversely impact a nation’s candidature to host international events seeking participation of other nations. 

Operation Sindoor, triggered by the Pahalgam massacre, was launched in May-2025 to destroy the terrorists and the terror-infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK. The operation was temporarily halted, after three days of India raining hell on Pakistan. That the Operation still continues was confirmed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in July-2025 and re-confirmed by the Defence Minister recently in September-2025. How could a country allow a private organization (BCCI) to play cricket with another country it is at war with ?

Some counter-questioned that If we had decided not to play with Pakistan in Asia Cup, could we have avoided playing them in the other ICC tournaments (i.e., World Cup, T-20 World Cup and Champion’s Trophy). The answer is emphatic yes. What would India prefer. To play with a rogue country and earn a-penny-a-dozen brownies internationally. Or, convey unequivocally that India would have nothing to do with a terrorist state responsible for killing of thousands of its citizens. We need to let go of a few trophies and titles than make a mockery of deaths of its citizens at the hands of Pakistani terrorists.

The apologists were also heard saying that the decision to not play cricket with Pakistan would have to be extended to other (non-cricket) sports too. That is a kutark (a crooked argument) aimed to over-magnify the implications and scaring the decision-makers into inaction. Cricket is not the issue here. Playing any sport with Pakistan is. Heavens wouldn’t fall if a few medals are let go of. A nation’s pride is far more important. On an equally serious note, which other sporting event did these apologists expect Pakistan to come anywhere near India in ? India per se may leave a lot to be desired in terms of its non-cricket achievements, the medals tally of some recent events speak volumes : Commonwealth Games 2022 (India # 4, Pakistan # 18), Asian Games 2023 (India # 4, Pakistan # 31), and Olympics 2024 (India # 71, Pakistan # No rank).

Money matters.

Is it money ? BCCI, the wealthiest cricket body in the world, earned a revenue of Rs. 18,700 crore (USD 2.3 billion) in 2023-24. Everyone associated with it i.e., players, umpires, selectors, coaches, commentators, administrators, associate-organizations, franchisees, sponsors, advertisers, vendors, et al make big money from the events organized or participated in by BCCI. Welcome. Was it the fear of not making some more money that prompted the decision to play Pakistan. Making money is fine but not at the cost of our national pride. Some may scoff at the thesis but playing Pakistan is not only a national affront but also an indirect funding of terrorist activities against India. The revenue-share with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the prize-money shall eventually go to Pakistan and Pakistani army (interchangeably called Pakistani government). Directly or indirectly, the money runs the risk of being used to recruit and train terrorists and to create terrorism infrastructure. Evidently, this dark reality was not much of a concern for the Govt. of India, BCCI and the players.

To some, wisdom doesn’t come even after they come of age. Take the legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar who wants us to believe that the Indian players didn’t have any role and that they sheepishly carried out the bidding of BCCI. That’s very juvenile of him. The players are adults. They are Indians, sufficiently sensitized to what is happening in their country. Correct my understanding that they too look to our armed forces and police personnel to protect them and their families from the enemies outside and within. They too cry tears when their loved ones die at the hands of Pakistani terrorists. I am confident that they don’t await BCCI’s concurrence to pee or to poop. I am equally confident that they would decline to wear suicide-vests and explode our enemies in a stadium if BCCI tells them to. That being the case, the players could have, individually or collectively, taken a call to decline playing Pakistan. Unapologetic, BCCI wants big money any which way. The players too want similarly. It is clear that, in the context of larger issues facing the country, both have a long distance to travel to reach a stage where the country takes precedence over money. Till then, they can unabashedly continue to have their cake and eat it too.

Not enough in it for them.

One had expected that the announcement of playing with Pakistan would lead to a massive political slugfest and strong protests. That wasn’t the case. The politics in India, otherwise, is hugely acrimonious. Actions or inactions of political parties invariably lead to high-decibel dogfights in the parliament as also in the media. But on the issue of playing with Pakistan there appeared to be a tacit understanding for a Noora-Kushti (shadow-boxing) among the politicians of all hues.

BJP fielded its second-rung spokespersons for all discussions on the issue and conveniently laid the responsibility at the doorsteps of BCCI. This was too presumptuous of BJP of the intelligence of Indians. Who would attach any credence to the statement that it was BCCI which took the call to play Pakistan on its own. When was the last time such a courage was demonstrated by BCCI. We all know that Jay Shah (current Chairman-ICC and former Secretary-BCCI) is the son of the Home Minister of India. This undoubtedly suggests that the real powers were aware of the decision to play Pakistan and chose to go along with it. Anurag Thakur (BJP) opened his mouth wide only to put his foot into it by saying “… it becomes a compulsion, a necessity for nations to participate.” Was he serious in expressing  India’s helplessness and relegating deaths and destruction caused by Pakistan to a  compulsion to play cricket with them. 

His general reluctance to speak against Pakistan notwithstanding, Rahul Gandhi was proverbially missing from any public discourse of consequence on the issue. Beating BJP, the Congress fielded some tertiary-level leaders to lodge its protest and build any narrative among the public. A few senior leaders who spoke on the issue, appeared disinterested in taking it forward. Gaurav Gogoi (Congress) did write to the BCCI to not to prioritize cricket “over national interest” but his own Pakistan-connections diluted the seriousness of the effort. Could it be that, like BJP, the Congress too has an Achille’s heel in the form of Rajeev Shukla (Congress) who doubles up as the Vice President of BCCI.

Other politicians of some import, but for Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) and Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena UBT), appeared ritualistic in their opposition to the issue and soft-pedalled their protest.

Que sera sera.

Is it fine to let Pakistan get away with the killing of over 1,400 Indians ? Is it fine to have 23 of our army soldiers falling prey in Uri to Pakistani terrorists ? Is it fine to see 46 of our CRPF personnel dead in the suicide-bombing in Pulwama ? Is it fine that 26 Indian tourists were massacred in Pahalgam ? What are we trying to achieve through our sports-connects with Pakistan ? A few medals or trophies or titles or big money ? If our sports-bodies, sports-administrators, sports-persons, sports-Shylocks and politicians think that we should let go of the past and move on, it is time we brought those tasked to counter terrorism (i.e., our armed forces and police personnel) on the same page. Let’s assure them that it would be fine for them to save their own lives whilst facing Pakistani terrorists next and not worry about the citizenry. Let’s tell them that it would be fine for them to not let the higher cause of the country’s safety & security get the better of pragmatism. It is about time the men in uniform knew that let alone valuing, we will barter their lives for trophies, medals and money.

Cricket-lovers and other Indian citizens are not discussed here as one is at one’s wit’s end to understand lack of any discernible anger among them on the issue. This Asia Cup has dented India’s big ambitions to build a singular national character and to give befitting responses to the enemies of our nation.