Is the war over?

[Prudent]

In the fifties and sixties Test matches between India and Pakistan were synonymous with dull, drab draws, safety-first tactics and ultra-defensive measures. Two successive rubbers ended with all five matches being drawn. It appeared that the captains and the players were least interested in aiming for a decisive result. There was this fear psychosis that had overtaken both teams and it seemed alright to lose to England or Australia, West Indies or New Zealand but not to each other. However, the matches between the two countries started on a positive note with the first three Tests in the inaugural series in 1952-53 ending in results. But then followed 12 successive draws and the pattern was really set in the return series in Pakistan two years later. Rival captains A H Kardar and Vinoo Mankad turned ferventcricket followers on both sides of the border into a band of cynics. The authorities showing supreme optimism had allotted four days for the Test matches whereas six would have been in order. In the first Test at Dhaka only 710 runs were scored from 387.3 overs — a scoring rate of 1.83 runs per over. By the fourth Test at Peshawar the run rate had declined to 1.63 runs per over with 638 runs accruing from 395.3 overs. Six years later when Pakistan paid a return visit the scenario was again depressing highlighted by events in the second Test at Kanpur. The first innings of both teams were not completed till just before lunch on the fifth day. The match produced a daily average aggregate of 155 runs. Even M L Jaisimha, a natural stroke player, seemed smitten by the defensive bug. He batted 500 minutes before being run out for 99 and made only five scoring strokes in the entire pre-lunch session on the third day. By this time Fazal Mahmood and Nari Contractor had taken over as captains but there was no change in the script and safety first measures — slow scoring, negative bowling, defensive field placements — were still very much prevalent. A couple of incidents towards the concluding stages of this series underlined the inveterate fear of defeat that had engulfed both teams. Polly Umrigar took over the captaincy in the final Test at New Delhi when Contractor was injured. A shrewd, bold and imaginative leader Umrigar hustled the Pakistani batsmen into errors by aggressive tactics. Relentlessly applying the pressure Umrigar saw to it that India came very close to breaking the stalemate and it was with utmost difficulty that the visitors managed to scrape through with an undeserving draw. Fazal while heaving a sigh of relief candidly told Umrigar “Thank God you were not the captain for the entire series; we would have lost.†The joyous bear hug that Fazal gave Mahmood Hussain at the end of the Pakistan second innings symbolised the relief in the visitors’ camp. It was Hussain’s timely 35 at No 9 that saved Pakistan from defeat — a result that would have given India a series triumph. Little wonder then that Test matches between India and Pakistan were dismissed in derisive fashion. Jack Fingleton while writing on the Test series between England and Australia in 1964 for an Indian magazine started his review after the second Test thus: “Two Tests, two draws. If readers don’t mind the comparison this looks like a series between India and Pakistan.†It took more than 17 years for the teams to meet again in a Test series but in one way it seemed worth the long wait. For by 1978-79 it was clear that the approach had changed for the better. The new generation of cricketers almost all of whom had been born after partition was not hindered by the kind of fear psychosis that had engulfed their predecessors. Over emphasis on safety first tactics was eschewed and the accent was on attack. There was a 13th successive draw on the featherbed of a pitch at Faisalabad in the opening Test but Pakistan won the next two Tests to clinch their first series against India. In complete contrast to the earlier series in Pakistan 24 years before both teams scored at between three and four an over and in each of the three Tests more than 1250 runs were notched up. But while all this was welcome the tension always prevalent in India-Pakistan encounters by now had became more palpable. The two countries had gone to war in 1965 and 1971 (in addition to the one in 1948) and there was always the danger of the underlying tensions in the relations spilling over to the cricket field. A victory in a Test match was something like a holy war or ‘jehad’ for Pakistan and this was underscored by the fact that when Pakistan won the second Test at Lahore the following day was declared a national holiday by the government. The umpiring too became a simmering issue and this was one more reason why India-Pakistan matches attracted more worldwide attention than in the fifties and sixties. India complained that they were at the receiving end whenever they visited Pakistan and when Pakistan paid a return visit the players had uncomplimentary things to say about the officials. These were in the days prior to neutral umpires and TV umpires and the mutterings on both sides did much to hasten the introduction of such officials. In fact Imran Khan and Sunil Gavaskar were quite candid in their view that the time had come for neutral umpires and in 1989-90 English umpires John Holder and John Hampshire stood in the four-Test series in Pakistan. This to a large extent reduced the tension and charges of bias. By this time an India-Pakistan game —whether a Test match or an ODI — had ceased to be a poor cousin of matches involving other nations and had become the showpiece of the cricketing world. One reason was the emergence of a number of superstars on both sides. Then the live TV coverage of matches led to a vast audience worldwide and given the sheer numbers involved as well as the passion for the game in the sub continent, the intense rivalry and the potential trouble that could ensue as a result of the underlying tensions meant that an India-Pakistan match was now the No 1 revenue earner in the game. Moreover with border skirmishes continuing on a fairly regular basis culminating in the Kargil conflict in 1999 an encounter between the two led to much off the field news too. Little wonder then that when India paid their long overdue visit to Pakistan in 2004 — their first since 1989 — the media coverage was disproportionate even by the standards of cricket in the sub continent. As Wisden noted: “Going by the Indian press you would have thought the world had stopped. About 500 media accreditations were issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board more than a hundred for Indian journalists. But the American magazines Sports Illustrated and GQ were also represented as was one Chinese news agency.†Naturally enough the media hype was startling and one leading Indian newspaper did itself little credit by running the irresponsibly vulgar banner headline “Karachi Captured†after India had won the opening ODI. But the warmth of the tour radiated beyond the cricket and hardened former players were moved to see the national flags together. The tour also provided the highest possible profile for friendship and the strongest metaphorical way of saying ‘Peace over Conflict’. Personalities as diverse as the British actor Peter O’ Toole and American Secretary of State Colin Powell praised the series’ message. Could all this be possible in a contest between any other two countries? But then such hyped up games, unreasonable expectations and strong feelings are bound to have their unhappy, even violent, side and crowd disturbances have occurred frequently in both countries. One remembers how during the first Test at Karachi in November 1989 a religious zealot scaled the fence, ran on to the field and after a brief altercation with Kapil Dev rushed across to the Indian skipper Kris Srikkanth and assaulted him muttering something about Babri Masjid. Before he was overpowered he had wrenched some buttons off Srikkanth’s shirt. On the same tour the Karachi ODI was abandoned with the crowd turning violent. Police used teargas to disperse the rioters after play had been frequently disrupted by their despicable act of stoning the Indian fielders. One also recalls how at Ahmedabad in 1987 the Pakistan outfielders were pelted with stones. Imran Khan led his team off the field and was reluctant to continue. Kapil Dev the Indian captain and Gavaskar appealed for calm over the public address system and when play resumed after about 50 minutes six of the visitors took the field wearing helmets injecting a dose of ironic humour. Arguably the most infamous riot was at Kolkata in February 1999 during the Asian Test Championship match. Play was interrupted not once but twice, first when Sachin Tendulkar was controversially run out on the fourth afternoon and again when India were sliding to defeat on the final morning. Ultimately, police ejected all the spectators and the final rites were gone through in an eerie silence before an empty stadium. Again on the eve of the same tour Shiv Sena activists dug up the pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi in protest against the visit of the Pakistan team while making it clear that they would not be welcome in Mumbai. In complete contrast was the standing ovation that the Chepauk crowd gave Wasim Akram and his men after their 12-run victory over India on the same tour leading Pakistan coach Javed Miandad to publicly salute the sporting spectators with a “Salaam Chennaiâ€. Happily the last couple of tours have gone off without any major untoward incident which is just as well for spectators can concentrate on the special aura that surrounds India-Pakistan matches making them No 1 entertainment value in the cricketing world. http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SES20071122080653&eTitle=Sport&rLink=0