India and Pakistan are often considered arch rivals on and off the field. But the two countries formed a joint team to tour Sri Lanka, purely to show South Asian solidarity in a remarkable sporting as well as political gesture, before the cricket World Cup in 1996. Photo Courtesy SLRC[/caption]
India’s white-ball series was needed to lift SL out of mess, says BCCI
India’s tour of Sri Lanka in June last year was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. That time, the pandemic that emerged out of the blues had sent the entire Future Tours Programme (FTP) of the top cricketing countries in complete and unprecedented disarray.
India’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka has now become necessary to ensure that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) could make up for the loss of revenue caused by last year’s cancellations.
The above opinion has been aired convincingly by none other than the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Treasurer Arun Dhumal.
Solidarity shown by Wasim and Azhar in1996
The two neighbouring countries had helped each other on more than one occasion. One great memory of the mutual understanding of the two cricketing giants was when Mohammad Azharuddin (Azhar) and Wasim Akram brought a joint Indo-Pakistan team to Colombo to play an exhibition match before the start of the 1996 World Cup.
It was a remarkable gesture of a genuine friend. Another two cricket countries, Australia and the West Indies, have both refused to visit to Sri Lanka for their first-round matches of the 1996 World Cup tournament due to security fears. In fact, they went to the extent of forfeiting their two respective matches to Sri Lanka.
LTTE never attacked cricket matches
Barely two months before the start of the World Cup tournament, the brutal Central Bank bomb blast by the LTTE had happened. Over 100 people had died while injuring hundreds of others. This was the heart of Colombo.
But anybody who had a close and sensible understanding of the civil war in Sri Lanka and the works of the LTTE that time were quite certain that the terror outfit never attacked any sporting event, particularly an international cricket match.
Friend in need is a friend in deed
The 1996 World Cup was co-hosted by Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka. All three countries reached the quarter-finals of the tournament. India beat Pakistaninone of those quarter-final matches. Both India and Sri Lanka reached the semi-final stage where the former was beaten in Calcutta by the latter.
It’s well documented history that Sri Lanka went on to win the 1996 World Cup beating Australia in the finals that was held in a jubilant, home-like atmosphere in Lahore, Pakistan.
A first thing that Sri Lanka’s world champion team Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga did after winning the trophy, in that glorious night in Lahore, was to thank both Wasim and Azhar for “being friends in deed in need”.
India knows its values
India had recently announced that it has rescheduled the postponed white-ball series in Sri Lanka to July this year. The July tour coincides with their national team’s Test tour of England which also comprises the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against New Zealand.
“We had to miss Sri Lanka tour last year also. So, we need to work out on that. Since our team that is going to England is primarily for Tests, we could have make up a team for these white-ball matches. So, that is why we thought we should do our bit to make sure Sri Lankan board and we can play white-ball cricket in time,” Dhumal was quoted as saying in the Indian media early this week.
“These days every country wants to host the Indian team, comprising stars like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, for matches as they fetch handsome revenue through TV rights, sponsorships, and series branding etc,” one such report further added.
Helping each other in difficult times
The BCCI Treasurer Dhumal has also said that it is important for the teams to follow such a policy in future.
“As you know the cricket world is under tremendous pressure for the last one-and-a-half year given the Covid pandemic, a lot of FTP (matches) have been cancelled. That has put a lot of strain on these associations all over the world. Until and unless you do these tours, we can’t make up, and it would be very difficult for all these boards to come out of their financial struggle that they are going through,” Dhumal has said.
The Indian national selection committee is likely to pick a special white-ball squad, probably under an ad hoc Captain Shikhar Dhawan, to tour Sri Lanka when their Test squad will be preparing for their bilateral Test series in England.
Thank you India, you are a real friend!