A while back, not too long ago, on a dusty, hot and grimy day, I recall seeing a Mercedes S-Class at the intersection of two major roads, stuck just like everyone else, in traffic. At the time, I remember thinking to myself what a great leveller traffic was. Motorists from all walks of life — from all demographics, psychographics and econographics — have to spend a few hours a day stuck in grid-lock traffic. Just like everyone else.
It was then that I peered into the lightly tinted windows of the Merc and saw two kids in the backseat with some adult, whom I could only presume was their mother. Outside the tinted window was a little street urchin-beggar type who was probably no older than the two kids in the vehicle. His palm outstretched, he stood at the window asking for alms. The window, to my surprise, rolled down and a hand no bigger than that of the beggar’s appeared, clutching a chocolate bar.
Soon another hand appeared and unwrapped the bar and the kid inside sat there eating the chocolate bar in front of the beggar. The window, it turns out was rolled down merely to tell the beggar to shoo off away from their vehicle.
Why is this random tale of urban decay relevant, you ask? Well, because it’s a metaphor for some of the ugliness that transpired yesterday at the auction before the Indian Premier League’s third season.
Before delving into it. Let’s get a few points out of the way:
1) With the present tension in Indo-Pak ties, especially after the 26/11 attacks and the governments of both nations not seeing eye-to-eye on investigations, perhaps it may be prudent that sporting ties are suspended between both nations.
2) With the IPL, perhaps certain quarters feel that the Indian board paying Pakistanis after their countrymen wreaked havoc in India, verges on the ridiculous and is certainly out of order. Perhaps.
3) Maybe, it’s uncertain how long the Laskhar-e-Tayyaba or any of those other terror groups can wait before they start attacking the holy beejezus out of India again and so, team owners don’t want to risk buying a Pakistani player, who may not be able to get a visa after further attacks.
4) Finally, maybe they just feel that the political climate is unsafe for Pakistanis to play in India, as it may be risky for them. (Yeah right)
None of these points for my argument. I’ve just put these on the table as givens. I will not be debating these.
The first name on the auction block was Pakistani Shahid Afridi, who if we’re being honest, is a bit of a irresponsible cricketer, but is enjoying some of the best form of his life. Major cricket pundits had tipped Afridi as one of the most sought after players in this auction. Not a single bid. “Shahid Afridi is unsold,” announced the auctioneer. Slowly, other Pakistani names came on the auction block and it became clear.
Poker-faced team owners sat and waited for the auctioneer to call time and it became abundantly clear that none of the franchises were going to buy a Pakistani player. By the auction’s end, the question on most people’s lips was, “If you weren’t going to sell them in the first place, why did you include Pakistanis in the list of auctionees?”
Fair question. Owners of all teams tried to deflect the query, stating “availability” or “we didn’t need a bowler” or some other bull-honkey. When cornered, each and every one of them came up with the lame “well, it’s ultimately the captain’s decision and not ours”. Convenient. Meanwhile, and quite understandably, cricketers from Pakistan were fuming at the snub. Can you blame them?
Amid some of the over-the-top hysterics like “the tournament won’t be as good because of the lack of Pakistanis” and “Indian fans will demand their money back because they won’t get to watch quality players”, one point stuck out like a sore thumb. The most obvious one. Why keep them in the list, purely to humiliate them with no bids? If you, Lalit Modi, had the slightest inkling that something like this could happen, shouldn’t you have held a meeting with owners beforehand to spare the Pakistanis this insult?
That’s a foolish query because as is common knowledge, Modi’s only in it to fatten his own wallet — a point I’ve discussed at length in an earlier post. So far, while politics and relations between India and Pakistan were strained, the sight of the two teams on a cricket field often brought a tiny bit of joy to the harrowed citizens of both nations. A good friend of mine was telling me yesterday that sport holds the answer to most world problems. If that is the case, what now? What if they’re scared to send a team to the Commonwealth Games, thinking, “You never know with these Indians, they might stick our team in Delhi’s slums, while the others stay at the official Games Village”?
Will the Pakistani players and sport administration ever trust us again?
1 comment:
Well you would think ill say "U hit the nail on its head"...Well No my friend...Coz this is something we discussed last night and had fun....Apart from that, in terms of framing the entire thing with a very beatiful metaphor was brilliant...But i was supposed to write a blog on the same...
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