A Spoilsport Called Pakistan

IT WAS MOMENTS after the final was won that the Indians assembled back on the field to collect the trophy. Mohsin Naqvi, determined to hog the limelight, was standing on the dais to hand things over. That’s when the impasse started. It was natural the Indians wouldn’t want to have anything to do with Naqvi. Here was someone who had posted on X multiple times with the airplane celebration mocking the Indian armed forces. Here was a man who justified Pakistan’s disrespectful acts time and again. He was persona non grata for the Indians and it was time they voiced their opinion.

For 45 minutes, nothing happened. Naqvi, obstinate and limelight-hungry, held his ground. The Indians did not flinch. Just when it seemed there was a breakthrough and the trophy would be handed over by the vice-chairman of the Emirates Cricket Board, Mohsin Naqvi instructed his people to walk away with the trophy. Never has there been a tournament where the winning team has not been presented the trophy and had to return home without it.

Let’s take the case of Haris Rauf. For no reason, Rauf started to do the airplane celebration on the ground mocking the Indian Army. There was no provocation and the Indians hadn’t done a single gesture to rile him. And yet, Rauf decided to go on the offensive. In doing so, he kept provoking the fans. What he did not realise is that the sport has its way of paying you back. In the final, Rauf went for 50 of his four overs without a wicket and was the main reason for Pakistan’s loss after they had reduced India to 20-3 in four overs.

In Chak De! India, there is a scene where Shah Rukh Khan (Kabir Khan) sits down with his assistant Krishnaji and is seen rubbing his Asian Games silver medal. When he is asked by Krishnaji what he was doing, he says he was trying to polish the silver and transform it into gold. He thereafter went on to say that the pain of coming second is such that it can destroy you, and few can live with this sense of guilt and failure.

That’s what brings me back to Haris Rauf. He shouldn’t have done what he did. Now, it will be near impossible for him to live with this burden. The sport had its way of giving it back and Rauf is a national villain in Pakistan.

I should also say that we haven’t seen the end of this. In the next ICC meeting here in Dubai, this trophy or rather the no-trophy matter will indeed be taken up for discussion. Can an administrator resort to provocation and get away? Should there be a line drawn? What’s permitted and what’s not? Should administrators not have more responsibility and should they not respect the chair they are sitting on?

The Asia Cup has been the worst tournament when it comes to disrespecting the sport. Time and again, the sport was violated. Missing press conferences, making the media wait and not turning up, getting a game delayed by an hour, Pakistan did everything possible to push the sport to the brink. And yet, the sport paid them back. With the Indian win, it is yet again evident that no one, just no one, can take cricket for granted. India played their worst game of the tournament and yet won. They did not play 50 per cent to their potential and yet managed to go past the line. That’s how good they are and that’s the difference between the two sides at the moment.