India and Pakistan resume cricketing ties

by Claire Truscott

CRICKET: LAHORE, Pakistan, Nov 19,(AFP) - India and Pakistan resumed cricketing ties Friday after three years — albeit at a low level — by fielding their blind teams for an international series starting with a fast-paced Twenty20.

Pakistan has hosted no major international matches over security fears posed by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban since 2009, and India stalled direct cricketing ties after Islamist gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in late 2008.

But Pakistanis hope that a trouble-free, limited over series for blind and partially-sighted players from November 18 to 26, will convince others that the country is safe enough for mainstream sporting giants to return.

“It’s a historical day for us,” Syed Sultan Shah, chairman of the Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC), told AFP at the Lahore Gymkhana cricket ground in the eastern city of Lahore where a crowd of 250 cheered on what ended in a win for Pakistan, who scored 213 runs to India’s 142.

The event is the latest sign of a thaw in diplomatic and economic relations, although the two nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947, remain deeply wary.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf is set to meet his counterpart in India later this month as both countries try to settle a series as early as next March despite a hectic schedule for world champions India.

The countries are united by nothing if not their fanatical love of cricket.

Little nervous

“Initially I was a little nervous just because going to Pakistan will be little insecure,” Indian player Venkadeshwa Dunna, 21, told AFP. “It’s fine. India and Pakistan are like brothers. There’s not much difference... We feel that Pakistan is also like our home town.”

It is the first time in three years that an Indian team are in Pakistan — the main cricket team last toured Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2008 — and the first time in five years that the Indian blind team are playing Pakistan.

It was in Lahore that gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009, stripping Pakistan of its 2011 World Cup co-hosting rights and forcing Pakistan to play all subsequent international fixtures abroad.

At the cricket ground, one man circled the perimeter waving a massive Pakistan flag and wearing an “I love Pakistan” green top, drawing cheers as schoolchildren shouted “Long live Pakistan” and “Pakistan will win”.

Policing was low-key, with armed officers sitting on benches dotted around the ground to take in the game.

One of Pakistan’s stand-out players was Mohammad Jamil, a partially sighted school teacher from Kashmir — the divided Himalayan region that triggered two Indo-Pakistan wars — who excited the crowd by clocking up run after run.

Underarm throws

The bowler throws underarm in blind cricket, with the ball filled with 25 ball bearings that rattle as it skits along the ground.

“It’s really difficult. You have to belt down your body and play a sweep shot,” said Pakistan team manager Abdul Razzeq, who said the pressure was on for his team to score a home win.

“We will try, because India is here, and all the expectation is on us to win that match,” he said. “Our batsmen are better than the Indian batsmen. Indian fielding is good.” Punjab provincial governor Latif Khosa, whose predecessor was shot dead in January for advocating blasphemy law reforms, said the blind series would help put matters on a better footing.

“I think this will go a long way... For other teams to follow suit and feel comfortable that there’s nothing to be scared of,” Khosa told AFP.

The two main cricket teams last met in the World Cup semi-final in India this March, watched by both prime ministers.

Afterwards there were calls by players and politicians for the resumption of cricketing links, with millions of fans missing out due to the nuclear-armed neighbours’ strained political ties.

Pakistan two up

Pakistan won the two previous Blind Cricket World Cups, the last one at home in 2006. The Indian blind team are ranked number two. A blind team comprises four totally visually impaired players, with the other seven being partially blind or partially sighted.

Totally blind players are helped by a runner whose one run is counted as double, two as four and four as eight. Two other Twenty20 matches will be played in Lahore on Saturday and Sunday, with one-day matches scheduled for November 22, 24 and 26 in Islamabad.