At the crease

For the first time in five years, the Pakistani and Indian cricket teams will face each other on the pitch in a bilateral series in India. This encounter between the two rivals is, of course, what fans in both countries most eagerly await, with contests between the neighbours regarded as being among the most intense seen on any sporting field. The news that the Indian home ministry has given clearance for the short tour to go ahead in December, following which the Board of Control for Cricket in India has declared that the tour is going to take place, will, therefore, delight even casual cricket lovers in both countries. A Pakistan-India contest, of course, draws millions to television screens. The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has expressed the hope that hundreds of fans will be able to travel across the border to witness the three One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 contests live. Who knows, politicians may step across too.

The decision by the Indian home ministry, while important for Pakistan — which has not had the opportunity of facing too many top-class teams regularly for the last few years — extends beyond sports. It comes as yet another indication that the ties shattered between the two countries as a result of the events in Mumbai in November 2008 are being repaired bit by bit; the shards picked up from the ground and pieced together once more. Cricketing ties play a key role in this, with diplomacy based around the game a part of history for both nations, helping build friendship even amidst fierce competition on the field itself.

Perhaps, most crucial of all, the scheduled tour to India will help build in minds of the people the idea that things are getting back to normal. This is important for both nations and also the region. Once more, we see cricket play a role in what we hope will be a lasting peace, with the shared passion for a sport bestowed by colonial rule acting also to remind us of the many links we share in common as a result of the centuries spent as one country. We now need to live together peacefully as two separate nations as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2012.