When filling out official forms, my ethnicity always goes down as plain old white. But as odd as it sounds, this week I was left wishing I had some roots in the Indian subcontinent. On Wednesday, India and Pakistan, the two giants from that part of the world, squared off against each other in the semi-finals of the cricket World Cup in perhaps the biggest game that will be played this year in any sport, and I felt frustratingly neutral.
In terms of hype, this game had everything. With cricket being a national obsession in both countries, over a billion Indians and close to 200 million Pakistanis may have tuned in, making it a hot favorite for the most watched sporting event in 2011. The two teams had also been in great form ahead of the match, both having beaten the No. 1 team, three-time defending champion Australia, along the way.
In their homelands, the players are absolute heroes. The phenomenal Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has set the bar so high for those who will follow that his records may never be touched; he is worshipped almost as a god. He even holds the honorary rank of Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, despite having no military or aviation background. On the other side, the nickname of Pakistani captain Shahid ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi, a reference to his aggressive batting style, has effectively spawned a new brand of cricket gear, the logo of which all Pakistani players now carry on their shirts.
As if the game wasn’t big enough, the history of the two countries off the field really adds spice to any confrontation between them. When the region gained independence from British rule in 1947, it was torn apart along broadly religious lines, sowing the seed for ongoing hostility and four wars (to date) between India and Pakistan. There remain worldwide concerns about the ongoing, and at times violent, territorial dispute over the future of Kashmir, since both countries are nuclear powers.
In fact, the very setting of this tournament is a testament to the underlying problems in the region. It was supposed to be co-hosted by India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but in the wake of attacks by violent extremists on the Sri Lankan team during a tour to Pakistan in 2009, that became impossible. Security fears continue to prevent any international cricket from even being played in Pakistan, and its own team has been forced to seek refuge abroad in order to play ‘home’ games.
Mumbai, the location of the final in India, has also seen its fair share of these problems. In 2008, Pakistani militants invading from across the sea attacked several iconic parts of the city, killing and injuring many. While the vast majority of Pakistanis were surely united with their Indian neighbors in feeling horrified by these events, it is understandable if Mumbai residents may have felt a little wary at the possibility of Pakistan heading that way for the final.
In the end, though, India won an interesting game in which the advantage seemed to shift between the two until the final hour or so. As a neutral, even a reasonably informed one, it was hard, though, not to feel a little distant from the roller coaster emotions I could see on the faces of the crowd. At the end of the day I wanted to see a close, exciting game with a few thrills and spills, but I didn’t really care who won.
I have a few friends from India, but no significant allegiance either way to help me take a stand and throw the full weight of my support behind one or the other. I enjoyed the cricket, but I can’t help feeling that I missed what made this game special, and it’s not one that’ll stick in my memory. Being a neutral fan is easy and painless because you can just sit back and enjoy the action without suffering the lows of failure, but you also can’t enjoy the highs of victory. It’s like watching a great action movie with the sound turned off. Sure, you can pretty much gather what’s going on, but you’ll never really get what makes it great.