Kolkata: Right now, the India-Pakistan rivalry isn’t about cricket. It’s about the politics around it, the diplomacy or its lack of, players tiptoeing around tricky questions and closed door meetings trying to cut through the tension entwining two nations who were locked in a full scale war a few months back.
Fuel was added to the fire last Sunday by India snubbing Pakistan’s offer to shake hands, prompting actions from Pakistan to which the International Cricket Council (ICC) has taken umbrage. Cricket has well and truly taken a backseat.
The game must go on though and so India are going about this match just like they did before last Sunday—by shutting out the noise. “Close your room, switch off your phone and sleep. I think that’s the best thing,” said captain Suryakumar Yadav on Saturday. “It’s easy to say, but sometimes it’s difficult because you meet a lot of friends, you go out for dinner and you have a lot of players who like to see all these things so it’s very difficult.
“I have been very clear with all the boys, I think it’s very important if we want to do well in this tournament and going forward, we will have to shut out a lot of noise. I am not saying shut the noise completely, but take what is good for you and someone can give you good advice as well which can help you in the game and on the ground.”
Rarely has an India-Pakistan cricket match not been eventful, but this time the off-field drama refuses to leave centrestage. Pakistan threatened to pull out of the Asia Cup till match referee Andy Pycroft was removed for allegedly ‘barring’ the captains from shaking hands at the toss. What happened is unclear but after a meeting—a muted video of which was circulated later—Pakistan claimed Pycroft had apologised while the Zimbabwean claimed he had regretted “the miscommunication and misunderstanding” around the situation.
Barely a day later, the ICC wrote to the PCB that use of a mobile phone to film the conversation between Pycroft and the Pakistan management was a breach of protocol. And on Sunday, they announced Pycroft would officiate Sunday’s match. In short, none of the stakeholders have backed off from their earlier stance. Had it been a few years back, the prospect of two equally matched teams going toe to toe in such a backdrop would have been lip smacking. But India are so far ahead that it’s difficult to imagine Pakistan upsetting their applecart.
“I don’t know what kind of rivalry you are talking about,” said Suryakumar. “After going on the ground, I feel that the stadium is full. And when the stadium is full, I tell my team and everyone that it is time for entertainment. So many people have come to watch the match, so you have to entertain everyone. Let’s play some good brand of cricket. And according to me, we don’t think much.
“We have played three games. We enjoyed winning all three games as much as we enjoyed winning the first game. So, I feel every game is a new challenge. We take it in stride and it feels good. We win and learn something from it and try to do it in the next game.”
Asked if they will finally shake hands, the India captain deflected the topic. “There is a good contest of ball and bat. There is also a contest of good intensity. As I said in the last question, the stadium is full and you get the best crowd to support you. And it’s best to put your best foot forward for the country and enjoy the game.”
India needed to test their batting depth, which they finally did against a determined Oman on Friday. Sanju Samson hit a fifty, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh too got much-needed game time. Jasprit Bumrah is set to return, as is Varun Chakravarthy. There is a bit of concern surrounding Axar Patel’s fitness after he hit his head on the turf while taking a catch on Friday but even if he doesn’t play, India have plenty of reserves to take his place.
“I feel our preparations have been really good leading into the tournament. And we had three good games also,” Suryakumar said. “So we are actually focusing on what we can do best. We want to follow all the good habits, which we’ve been doing in the last two-three games. And we’ll take it one game at a time.
“But yeah, it doesn’t give us an edge because we played them once and we had a good game. Of course, it will be a good game. We’ll have to start well from scratch. And whoever plays well will win the game.”