Beyond a boundary

Overt nationalism marred the World Cup

To the genuine cricket fan, Indian or otherwise, the better team on the day won the World Cup. But in terms of fan behaviour and tournament hosting, India may have been a loser beyond the cricket pitch. One element of this failure was the fervent jingoism on display at many stadiums. Parochialism is inevitable in any sporting event in which nations compete, with the media and fans duly adding their might to home advantage. But there were two less savoury elements to the business at World Cup 2023. The first was that patriotism took on a distinct saffron hue in the match against Pakistan, with fans taunting batters walking back to the pavilion or fielding on the boundary with religious chants. It was also astonishing, however, that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sanctioned a drinks break song-and-dance routine at the final that loudly proclaimed that India would win. The BCCI appeared to have forgotten its role as a host of a global sporting tournament in the interests of political messaging.

The delays over issuing visas for the Pakistani squad, prompting the Pakistan Cricket Board to complain to the International Cricket Council (ICC), should have been avoided. The scant presence of foreign fans at stadiums, combined with complaints of problems accessing tickets or entry to stadiums, did not go with India’s touted mantra of atithi devo bhava (the guest is god). The lack of turnout at non-India matches in some venues was also telling. All this contrasts sharply with the presence of foreign fans at World Cup football tournaments, including in an insular country like Russia, or even international hockey tournaments that India hosts. At a time when tourist arrivals are yet to recover from the Covid-19 hiatus, it would have been logical for the government and BCCI to have pulled out all the stops to welcome foreign fans. This is the first time India has hosted the tournament solo, so the event would have offered an opportunity to showcase India’s multiculturalism, hospitality, and, most of all, its capabilities to organise multinational events in world-class facilities. Combined with the just-concluded G20 summit, a more welcoming World Cup environment would have also underlined the political message of India’s arrival on the world stage.

The thunderous, dismayed silence that met the outstanding display of Australian captaincy, bowling, fielding, and batting — including Travis Head’s disciplined century — in the final stood in sharp contrast to the generous standing ovation for New Zealander Daryl Mitchell’s century against India or the appreciative applause for Australian prowess, though much of the crowd was patently rooting for South Africa at the semis. Surely, India could have put on a less mean-spirited show at the finals.