India’s coach Gautam Gambhir, a former politician for the country’s ruling BJP party, has declared that India should stop playing all cricket against Pakistan following a recent militant attack on tourists in Kashmir.
The forthright Gambhir was speaking before Indian airstrikes against a range of targets in Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday, which have cast further doubt on cricket meetings between the two south Asian nations.
Tension has escalated between India and Pakistan.Credit: AP
Such an eventuality would be a disastrous outcome for world cricket, and the next step in the freezing of sporting relations between the game’s most passionate on-field rivals.
The prospect of India and Pakistan no longer playing each other at global tournaments would be a huge hit to the commercial value of those events, from which most cricket nations draw the funding that keeps them afloat.
One of the first consequences of last month’s attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people at a resort in the scenic area of Indian-controlled Kashmir, was for the streaming platform FanCode to immediately stop broadcasting the Pakistan Super League Twenty20 event into India. Former Australian Test opener David Warner is among the overseas players taking part in the PSL, which was this year moved to be played directly opposite the Indian Premier League.
The Pakistan government has denied all involvement in the Pahalgam attack, but in response to the PSL ban retaliated by calling for a ban on streams of the IPL into Pakistan, although it is not clear whether that has actually taken place.
Gambhir, who was elected to the Indian Parliament as the BJP member for East Delhi in 2019 and held the seat until resigning to concentrate on coaching the Indian national team last year, spoke openly on Tuesday night about ceasing all cricket contact with Pakistan.
“My personal answer to this is absolutely no,” Gambhir said at an event in Delhi when asked if India should continue playing Pakistan at neutral venues. “’Til all this [terrorism] doesn’t stop, there should not be anything between India and Pakistan.
“Ultimately, this is government’s decision whether we play them or not. I have said this before also, no cricket match or Bollywood or any other interaction is more important than the life of Indian soldiers and Indian citizens. Matches will keep happening, movies will be made, singers will continue to perform, but nothing comes close to losing a loved one in your family.
“This is not up to me, it’s not in my jurisdiction, this is for BCCI and more importantly, the government to decide whether we should play them or not. Whatever decision they make, we should be absolutely fine with it and not politicise it.”
India’s coach Gautam Gambhir.Credit: Getty Images
India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series of any kind since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Since then, their cricket meetings have been restricted to World Cups and also the regional Asia Cup, which is scheduled to be held later this year.
Recent meetings between the two countries have become increasingly tempestuous, but also one-sided. India have not lost to Pakistan since the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, which is also the only occasion when Pakistan have beaten India in a T20 or ODI World Cup match.
There have already been calls within India for Pakistan to be banned from the Asia Cup, and even for the Asian Cricket Council, currently chaired by Pakistan Cricket Board chair Mohsin Naqvi, to be disbanded under its current leadership.
These views, expressed by former India captain and longtime commentator Sunil Gavaskar, among others, have been decried in Pakistan.
“I can’t believe Sunny bhai [Hindi term for friend] said this. He’s a respectful, down-to-earth person who always stayed away from politics,” former Pakistan skipper Javed Miandad said in response.
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