Boria Majumdar
Now that the UAE formality is over, all eyes will be on India-Pakistan this Sunday. And that’s where we need to spare a thought for the players. In all honesty, you don’t want to be a player in this game. Either way, you will be questioned. If you play, you will be called anti-national by the boycott brigade who can’t even recognize that, as a cricketer, your job is to go out there and perform if picked.
If you play and don’t win, all hell will break lose. This is the one match you can’t lose, and all of India will forget that it is a cricket game that is being played out there. You have to win no matter what. And that’s what adds to the humungous pressure associated with this match.
At times, it seems unfair. There shouldn’t be sport played with this kind of pressure. Suryakumar Yadav and his boys shouldn’t have to do this. Why and how would they deal with such pressure, and is it really possible to treat the Pakistan game as another cricket match?
Sourav Ganguly had once told me how he dealt with a Pakistan game. The context was the 2003 World Cup and the backdrop was the Kargil war. “See, you know it is not another game,” he told me. “You know it is Pakistan. You know you can’t lose. But then, if you constantly say this to yourself, you aren’t doing yourself any good. You have to say to yourself that it is the same bat and the same ball and the same wicket. It is no different. You will have to score runs and pick wickets. It is cricket. Only then can you focus and win the game.”
In a match where every handshake will be scrutinised, Surya and his boys just need to focus on the job at hand. They are just too good in this format, and if they play to potential, there is no stopping them. It is essential they shut out the outside noise and look inwards. Isolate themselves from what is being said or written, and just do their basic drills.
I have watched and covered a lot of India-Pakistan matches. But for this particular game, I am confused. Yes, I don’t want India to lose, and that adds to the pressure. It is not a celebration, and yet it is essential we save the game from being labelled an extension of Operation Sindoor. The players aren’t there to do anything but play cricket, and whatever happens, we need to make that point.
I am also conscious that either way, we will all be trolled. ‘Why are you reporting on the game? Why are you not boycotting it?’ will be a constant refrain. And yet, we will have to focus on the job at hand in the most professional manner. For the six of us from team RevSportz who are all in Dubai now, it will be a learning. The pressure is not just on the players. It is on each one of us as well. And it will define our coverage.
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