India vs Pakistan slug-fest moves online during ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

When conjoined twins, separated at birth, come together, skirmishes are inevitable. Rooted in history, fanned by partition and three wars, the animosity would generally play itself out on the cricket field. No longer: the palpable tension of a high decibel face off is still there but not in the field; it rather vents itself in the form of surrogate debates in TV studios or in the social media where barbed comments draw more blood then in a gladiators’ arena. AnkurDhawan looks at the slug fest and its nascent online avatar.

India and Pakistan last collided in a high octave match in the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Pakistan never expected to make it that far but, as is customary, had the full support of the public back home, in light of having progressed to the semi-final despite being deprived of cricket at home. The Indians survived at Mohali: All hell would have broken loose had they lost, considering that the final was to take place in Mumbai, a city that had not hosted Pakistan previously fearing political backlash. India vs Pakistan: Match Report

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Four years on, both countries have moved on: Their self-esteem no longer hangs by a slender thread of a game of cricket. The pinpricks are there but the real battle has moved online. Result:  More than print, the social and the electronic media is abuzz with jingoistic chant. In TV studios, mock fights are simulated between ex-players who pander to a salivating audience. No one is fooled and the dormant hostility feeds on itself online, where the ‘fan’ can run amok and take a salacious pleasure in running down national icons with gay abandon. India vs Pakistan: Highlights

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The average fan is subsumed by the idea that losing is not an option. Broken Televisions are a mild reaction to the unthinkable. While burning effigies and stone pelting may be a relic of a medieval past the mood online is vicious, a throwback to George Orwell’s profound observation, “Sport at the international level only creates a feeling of ill-will and animosity”. The pot shots on the social media ahead of the India Pakistan match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 reinforce the belief. In fact, this feeling of antipathy spreads like wildfire online and singes even the right-thinking fan. India vs Pakistan: Full Scorecard

The positive is that in the last decade there has been a discernible change in the attitude and approach of the two teams in the run-up to big games. The players and team officials prefer to play it safe by looking at it as “just another game” and exchange mundane pleasantries,  not wanting to turn it into a no holds barred contest in which their jobs would be on the line. It takes the pressure off everyone and pretence becomes the name of the game. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS

In the bygone era, the reputation of players would be shredded by a crowd that could turn amiable or hostile with each turn of the match. Players too had reputations which would ride roughshod over all sport etiquette: the crowd too loved brash cricketers like JavedMiandad and Shoaib Akhtar rather than mellow ones like Zaheer Abbas.  On the other hand, Indian players like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag carried on their shoulders the burden of history. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE

But these days, the nondescript players, who are only as good as their last match, try not to pay heed to the public mood, except when they need to defuse tensions, leaving the media parched and hungry for innocuous pre-match sound bites. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Complete Coverage

So, on-field tensions have almost ceased. There are more sparks flying in a game with Australia rather than between India and Pakistan. The temperament of the captains of the current squads, MS Dhoni and Misbah-ul-Haq, has a lot to do with the reserve. The two of them are the among the most quiet individuals to have played the game and they bring an overpowering, sometimes mundane and a disconcerting calm, to the proceedings.

Possibly the players feel a greater sense of responsibility, after taking into account the hate mongering on social media. Or perhaps they are only fending for themselves, fearing a public backlash in the event of a loose statement.

 (AnkurDhawan is a reporter with CricketCountry. Heavily influenced by dystopian novels, he naturally has about 59 conspiracy theories for every moment in the game of cricket. On finding a direct link between his head and the tip of his fingers, he also writes about it)