Royal Cricket Battle Expected in Indo-Pak Series

By Denzil Fernandes

Dec 24: Pakistan will be more than delighted to alight from the aircraft to play India after a long Sabbath with their neighbours in a short but stern five match cricket series of 3 ODIs and 2 T20 internationals from Christmas day on Dec.25 starting in Bangalore, India. Arch rivals and neighbours Pakistan are scheduled to play their first T20 in Bangalore on Deember 25, and will then head to Ahmedabad for the second T20 International on December 28. Chennai will be the venue for the lst One Day International (ODI) on December 30 followed by the 2nd ODI at Kolkata on January 3 and the last ODI on January 6th at Delhi.

Since the year 2006 India has not toured Pakistan and the deteriorating political situation especially in Pakistan has meant that no international teams are willing to go there for any kind of sporting activity. The 26/11 terrorist acts in Mumbai worsened every bit of hope for Pakistan and they have to be really thankful to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for agreeing to host them during the year end for a short series. Even though the tour has been announced, there have been several parties who are still not happy with the decision. Especially in Maharashtra, all the parties have expressed their disgust to resume the Indo-Pak cricket relations. To avoid any kind of trouble and disruption, no matches have been scheduled to be played in Mumbai.

The huge ‘lifeline’ thrown open by the BCCI will surely help the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) no end. The PCB has struggled to survive and have played international teams on neutral venues with not much finance generated. The tour to India will open many doors for them and India will probably tour that country later at a convenient time. Almost all Pakistanis have welcomes the resumption of the bilateral series which, of course, will be beneficial from their point of view.

Tight security and stringent measures will be in place for the two week tour. Even those visitors from Pakistan coming to watch the matches will be issued visas only after the Indian authorities are convinced. In the past, there were cases when the so called cricket visitors did not return back to Pakistan after the matches had ended. Likewise, it is also alleged that some of them come as visitors but undertake other political assignments that include surveying potential areas which can be targeted for future terrorist action. A huge security operation will be in place for the entire series with the government providing paramilitary reinforcements to host states to aid local police. More forces will be available as soon as the Gujarat polls end on December 20. There will be a tight three-tier security comprising private security to be deployed by BCCI inside the venue, police at access points and Central forces at vantage areas. Even the teams will travel under a specially worked out security plan with entry barred for outsiders at the hotels where the teams will stay. A huge contingent of VVIPs are expected to cross the border to watch the matches. Both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan PM Yousuf Gilani were present for an exciting encounter between the two countries in March 2011 last in the ICC World Cup semifinal in Mohali.

Indo-Pak cricket rivalry will be on full view and the venues will packed like sardines everywhere. The host associations stand to gain from the windfall apart from watching some fine action in the middle. Both the teams have extremely talented players and it is always a treat to watch a match between the arch rivals which has an extra bit of zing to the entire game.

The Indians will be fully prepared after their matches with England and are expected to be in prime form. For Pakistan, more than the win, this will be one huge diplomatic victory which is bound to help their cricket in the long run.

India’s master batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his international debut against Pakistan in 1989 at Karachi at the age of 16 years and has been entertaining everyone with his beautiful game for the last 23 years. Just as Pakistan arrived for the series to India, Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from One-Day format of the game and will now be available only for Test matches.

This will be one big chance for skipper Dhoni of India to show that he is still the best to lead India against any opposition. Commenting on the importance of the series against Pakistan, Dhoni said, "tell me one series which is not big for us. Whether we play England, Pakistan, Australia or any other series. For us it is all the same”. "That is how we look at it and don't really look into who we are playing because that can only increase the pressure. We keep it very simple, whoever the opposition is. We look at the format and try to execute our plans."

From a cricketing point of view, there is no doubt that a juicy series is on the cards. With non stop cricket action guaranteed, the year end is going to be exciting with crackers set to burst from all ends irrespective of who wins. Even when there is a Pakistan win one can find crackers bursting not only in their country but outside as well. The Indian supporters will be hoping for a complete rout of the visitors and there can be no better day than Christmas Day to herald the commencement of Indo-Pak cricket relations again. Both the nations will benefit and the standard of the game will rise. There could be a ray of hope for the Pakistan cricketers now to be considered for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) also.

In the end, sport will triumph and from this one hopes that the nasty relations between the neighbours will take a change for the better. From the evil of the past one hopes that good will emerge and both Pakistan and India will learn to live like one big family setting aside all their differences and ideas of violence which has wrecked the peace and prosperity of the countries.

Before we conclude, one has to compliment both the government and the BCCI for throwing an olive branch to the beleaguered Pakistanis and one only prays and hopes that they appreciate the goodwill and noble gesture with gratitude.

MAY GOOD PREVAIL OVER EVIL WITH THESE CRICKET TOURS !

ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed, Amit Mishra
 
T20 squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Parvinder Awana, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu.