It’s not cricket, or is it?

The intensity of an India-Pakistan encounter on the cricket field has always been such that a majority of the country seems to believe that if India manages to beat Pakistan in a tournament, the nation doesn’t mind them even if the team eventually loses the tournament. The team that defeats the dushman is hailed as hero, irrespective of the final outcome in the tournament. As India and Pakistan gear up for Sunday’s match at Edgbaston, the tension has been ratcheted to a new high.

Even before the teams face off in the Champions Trophy clash, the media on both sides of the border have ratcheted the pitch to a new high. Reports have surfaced about Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) planning to plant 14( not more, not less) agents in the stadium, with banners asking India to end ‘oppression of Kashmir ’ and demanding ‘freedom of Kashmir’. The Pakistani media, on the other hand, is reporting prominently that five Indian soldiers had been killed ( ignored by the Indian media), all of which has added pressure on players. The ‘terror attack’ in London could not have come at a worse time.

On Saturday, leading Pakistani daily Dawn reported killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops. The report further claimed that the “Pakistani troops responded to an unprovoked’ ceasefire violation on the Tatta Pani Sector along the Line of Control (LoC).”

Curiously, the Narendra Modi government has in the past been very firm about ‘no sporting ties until terror remains’, but when it comes to cricket on foreign fields involving big money, it is an altogether different proposition.

Vijay Goel, the Union Sports Minister, had however said this week, “India-Pakistan cannot play bilateral series till terror from Pakistan remain.”

Significantly, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had almost pulled out of the Champions Trophy after the proposed two-tier model by the ICC, over the existing Big Three (India, Australia, England) model, that threatened to bring down BCCI’s revenue by half. The proposed model would have meant a loss of more than 3000 crore INR for the BCCI. It needed a firm nudge from the Committee of Administrators for the BCCI to fall in line, settle the issue and confirm its participation in the Champions Trophy.

While Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel had nuanced the stand by declaring that India and Pakistan would not play any bilateral series till tensions between the two countries do not ease and cross-border terrorism does not stop, tournaments abroad are a different ball game altogether.