Cricket diplomacy: can a game heal India and Pakistan?

Express Tribune

27-05-2025

The writer is a professor of Media Studies with teaching and research experience at leading universities in Pakistan and abroad
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In a small village near the outskirts of Karachi, an elderly shopkeeper once told me, "When India and Pakistan play, even the birds stop to watch the game." His words echo across the subcontinent with a reminder that cricket isn't just a sport here. It's a shared heartbeat.
Yet today, as soldiers glare across borders and politicians trade barbs, that heartbeat falters. The world witnessed the last bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan in 2012. A generation of children has grown up watching their heroes clash only in ICC tournaments, their rivalry reduced to a spectacle mediated by neutral venues of the UAE and England. But what if we dared to let cricket reclaim its role as more than a game? What if, once again, it became a language of hope?
When the Bat Spoke Louder Than Politics
I'll never forget the 2004 Karachi Test. An Indian team toured Pakistan after 14 years. My maternal grandfather, a Karachiite who lost family members during Partition, nearly wept as he watched Pakistani fans gifting Indian players rose petals. "They're not enemies," he said. "They're guests." For weeks, the air smelled of biryani and camaraderie. Auto-rickshaws in Lahore sported both nations' flags.
This wasn't magic — it was humanity. My decade-long research, analysing 397 news articles from Indian and Pakistani media, found that 75% of cricket diplomacy stories carried a positive tone, even during crises. When Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yusuf Raza Gilani shared laughs in Mohali in 2011, Pakistani newspapers splashed headlines like "A Match Made in Heaven", while an Indian newspaper wrote, "Cricket's Truce Outlasts Politics".
But something shifted. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, fear hardened into policy. Bilateral series froze. By 2019, when India's World Cup clash with Pakistan drew 273 million viewers, coverage turned toxic. Indian media framed the match as "War Without Weapons", while Pakistani outlets lamented "Diplomacy's Last Over". The birds still watched, but the players became soldiers and the fans recruits.
The Youngest Victims
In a Karachi school last year, I met 12-year-old Ayesha, who dreams of playing cricket for Pakistan — against India. Ayesha's generation has never seen an Indo-Pak bilateral series. They've only known hashtag wars and YouTube venom. Yet, in my research, 63% of articles from 2010-2018 linked cricket to peace-building, not conflict. Even today, when Virat Kohli praises Babar Azam's batting, or Shadab Khan thanks Indian fans for support, social media lights up with "Why can't we just be like this?"
A Playbook for Peace
Cricket won't solve Kashmir or silence guns. But it can rebuild what politics erodes: trust. Here's how:
The 2023 Women's Asia Cup saw Indian and Pakistani players cooking biryani together in Bangladesh. Let's host a joint Peace Premier League for women cricketers, with matches in Amritsar and Lahore.
In 2022, Indian and Pakistani fans in Melbourne collectively donated ₹1.5 million to flood-hit Pakistan. Build on this: create a "Cricket for Climate" fund, where both boards donate per boundary hit in ICC matches.
Pair Wasim Akram and Sourav Ganguly in the commentary booths. Let them joke about 90s rivalries and remind viewers: "We fought hard, but we broke bread harder."
Allow Pakistan's U-19 team to tour India. Let kids like Ayesha play exhibition matches in Jaipur or Peshawar. Childhood friendships can adulthood hostilities.
The Last Over
In 1987, Gen Zia surprised India by watching a match in Jaipur. In 2023, imagine Prime Ministers Sharif and Modi sharing jalebi in Ahmedabad during a bilateral game. Impossible? So was a Pakistani team touring India in 2004, until it happened.
As Mandela said, "Sport can create hope where once there was only despair." Today, 60% of South Asians are under 35. They deserve more than viral hatred and inherited grudges. They deserve a chance to rewrite our story — one cover drive, one handshake, at a time.
Let's not wait for diplomacy to permit cricket. Let cricket permit diplomacy.