It’s not just cricket

There are plenty of much-anticipated contests in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. But nothing to compare with this Sunday’s match at Old Trafford, where India are billed to play Pakistan in the latest epic in a rivalry that dates back to Partition in 1947.

It’s a rivalry that is regularly punctuated by war. No cricket was played between the two countries from 1961 until 1978. The 1965 conflict, caused by Pakistani aggression, severed relations. By the time a ceasefire was declared, Indian tanks were on the outskirts of Lahore, where a 12-year-old Imran Khan was distraught not to be allowed to join a local militia.

The two countries fought again in 1971 when India backed insurgents in the liberation war which led to the secession of East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. Cricketing relations remained in cold storage until 1978, by which time Imran was leading his country’s pace attack, helping Pakistan to demolish a weak Indian opposition.

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This was the start of a happy period of ‘cricket diplomacy’, as Pakistan’s military leader General Zia-ul-Haq used cricket to improve relations with Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister of Pakistan’s much larger southern neighbour. This new friendship did not last. Renewed hostilities meant only a handful of Tests were played between 1987 and 2004, when Pakistan hosted a touring Indian team for a successful series in which special arrangements were made to allow Indian supporters to cross the border. At the end of the Test series the Indian High Commissioner told the Pakistani diplomat Shahryar Khan: ‘20,000 Indian cricket fans visited Pakistan. You have sent back 20,000 Pakistan ambassadors to India.’

Sadly the goodwill was dissipated by the terror attack on Mumbai in 2008 which left at least 174 people dead, and where evidence pointed strongly to the involvement of elements connected to the Pakistan state.